EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU

This is a bright, unusual musical comedy with a superior cast and a loving family at its center. Nostalgic songs from Hollywood’s Golden Age become comic set pieces, and the film’s whimsy occasionally produces wonderfully funny images, including ordinary people spontaneously singing and dancing.

But the romance is morally compromised. The story treats adultery as part of its comic and romantic machinery, while also including implied sex, sexual talk, obscenity, profanity, and smoking. The family’s affection for one another is genuine, yet the film’s ideas about relationships and sexual dysfunction are distinctly adult.

If you appreciate Woody Allen’s style and can exercise discernment about its sexual worldview, it may be worth seeing; for a family movie night, choose something else.

D. J., a precocious teenager living in New York, belongs to a lively extended family filled with parents, siblings, fiancés, and romantic complications. Her biological father, Joe, lives primarily in Paris but remains close to the family.

When D. J. hears that Joe is unhappy in love, she helps him pursue a new relationship. Around them, the family members each search for love, singing their way through the comedy.

Three stars means a likable, often funny film whose appeal depends heavily on its style. Allen brings a superior cast to this modern musical, and his first attempt at the genre has a distinctly whimsical attitude.

Rather than writing new music, he borrows familiar songs from earlier musicals and places them in modern romantic situations. The dialogue-heavy comic ranting will delight viewers who already enjoy Allen’s work, while others may find the premise of spontaneous singing difficult to accept. The film is entertaining, but its adult romantic material limits its audience.

The film presents a romantic worldview in which love and relationships organize nearly every part of life. It celebrates a family that remains close despite divorce and shows parents, children, and extended relatives caring for one another. It also treats romantic and sexual desire as a source of comedy and complication.

That affection is undercut by Joe’s decision to lie in order to seduce a married woman. The film includes adultery and sexual talk, even though the married woman ultimately recognizes the deception and returns to her husband. The movie’s warm family bonds are valuable, but its treatment of sexual relationships does not consistently honor marital faithfulness.

Scripture affirms both the goodness of marriage and the seriousness of keeping its covenant: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6).

This whimsical musical has a superior cast, comic imagination, and genuine affection for family. Its adultery, sexual talk, and other adult content make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults who enjoy Woody Allen’s style, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For a family movie night, choose from.