It’s hard to tell from the title of the Woody Allen movie You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger whether the Woodster thinks it’s one of his better films. Allen has stated previously that when he likes one of his films, he gives it an “aggressive” title; when he doesn’t, he gives it a “hiding title”: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is longer, and in its way more memorable than some of his other titles, but it’s also a big cliché. The trailer for this film does not entirely clarify the matter! (Though it has us leaning toward “hiding title.”) To the sounds of big-band jazz and British accents, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Gemma Jones, and Antonio Banderas bed-hop, all in light farcical fashion: Hopkins leaves Ward for a younger woman; Watts has a crush on Banderas; and her husband, a struggling writer played by Brolin, would like Freida Pinto to keep getting undressed with the curtains open. Brolin does seem to be playing the Woody Allen part, which, needless to say, means he is probably not the tall dark stranger referenced in the title.
