For Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen gathered Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and relative unknown Rebecca Hall to create a love quadrangle full of passion, intelligence, sensuality and that ever-present wild card – human fallibility. (It’s a close call, but Cruz is the standout as the unstable ex-wife of Bardem’s maddeningly seductive painter.) Sex is usually an intellectual endeavor for Allen, but this foursome forces him – and us – to get out of our heads.
