Better With Time

Each year, as Woody Allen dumps another movie without ceremony onto the great heap that is his oeuvre, our perspective of his previous films shifts. One beneficiary of such hindsight is Everyone Says I Love You, the 1997 musical that felt so slight, it might dissolve. More than 10 years later, it hasn't. Despite the rough edges that mark much of Allen's mid-late, late-late and late-late-late periods, this silly confection captures the easy fun and glamour of Hollywood's golden years — when leaving an audience smiling didn't mean insulting its intelligence. Sure, it's no Garbo Talks, but Everyone Says is airy, clever and occasionally inspired. Edward Norton croons "My Baby Just Cares for Me" with likable aplomb, and Goldie Hawn floats on air on the banks of the Seine. (This is also the gentlest R-rated movie in history; it earned the rating for a single great joke about hip-hop.) The film screens at 6 tonight at the main branch of the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library (625 Minnesota in KCK, 913-551-3280). The showing is part of a monthlong dig through the Allen heap. Next week: Match Point. Kansas City Kansas Public Library
Tue., March 18, 6 p.m., 2008