Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Whether or not we want to peek into the predictable fantasies of an ageing Woody Allen is the sticking point of Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

This is a honey-glazed dream of a movie, a tale of two vacationing Americans - straight-laced Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and the more bohemian Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) - who enjoy the delights of Europe one summer: the food, the culture, the architecture and a kind of free-love adventure with Javier Bardem.

Mr Bardem is Juan Antonio, a charming, masterful painter who invites the two young innocents abroad for a weekend away, where their bonding is interrupted only by the arrival of his former wife - the combustible Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) with whom he maintains a fiery, impossible relationship.

It is a strange film in many ways. Johansson serves her purpose as a plump-yet-thin object of desire; Hall puts in strong work as the forlorn, serious Vicky; but the real thwacks of power come from Cruz and Bardem who bring a dusty, thunderous energy to a movie that could otherwise have a been a saggy, sorry tale of seedy lust. In their passionate hands, it becomes a tale of comedy, tragedy and some electricity. ·