Wonder Wheel Review – Spoiler Free
Wonder Wheel is a film which comes both written and directed by Woody Allen who some might know for his work on Irrational Man (2015) or Cafe Society (2016). Wonder Wheel stars Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake and Kate Winslet. Wonder Wheel takes place at Coney Island during the 1950’s, where we hear a story told from a lifeguard’s perspective, about the lives of a carousel owner, his wife and their family.
I had enjoyed many of the previous Woody Allen films and particularly adored Irrational Man, although I like Cafe Society too. Nothing beats Irrational Man in my opinion from Woody Allen’s recent works. I was therefore excited to see what we might get out of Wonder Wheel, which has a fairly decent cast and I’ve always enjoyed watching Jim Belushi at the cinema.
The story we get here is okay, basically what’s going on is that Ginny (Kate Winslet) is having an affair with the lifeguard (Justine Timberlake) and no one knows about it. Things are okay, but it gets further complicated when Humpty’s (Jim Belushi’s) daughter who is also Ginny’s stepdaughter returns to town and starts dating the lifeguard. You can just imagine the tension that comes about from the group of characters who know nothing about whats going on with one another.
Much of it is really funny and the tone is light all the way through. Much like Woody Allen’s previous few films, it’s all light entertainment. Although it is dramatic at times, things never seem to get all that tense. It’s a fun nice film to watch.
The actors are all okay, I’m not too big of a fan of Justin Timberlake in this though, his character and his performance never really captured me. I do like Jim Belushi a lot, but he’s not really the main character here at all. Both Juno Temple and Kate Winslet were okay too, but no one in the film really blew me away at all or stood out any more than anyone else did. They were all just kind of okay to watch really.
I think in watching it, I did become a little bored with the characters. I found it hard to really become attached to either of the bunch as things developed, I got a little tired of it all. Yes, sometimes films about affairs can be interesting, but with the light tone, I couldn’t take any of the tense moments seriously.
Overall I found it to be just a really silly film in the end. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, it was just okay. I enjoyed all the actors in there, but no one really stood out to me that much and the characters I found to be unlikable. But it’s not a bad film experience in any way, it’s just something that’s light and funny. Sometimes on some nights you need films like Wonder Wheel, it won’t make you stressed or tense and it won’t shock you either. It’s just something funny and that’s okay.
