The opening sequence of a bereft beauty (Juno Temple) wandering around a Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s evokes Fellini, but this secondhand drama from Woody Allen takes most of its cues from the dead-serious Broadway stage, heavy on the O’Neill and Odets. Fleeing from vengeful gangsters, the young woman hides with her thundering father (Jim Belushi), his frustrated second wife (Kate Winslet), and their pyromaniac son in a dank apartment above the park’s shooting gallery; the wife has been sleeping with the local lifeguard (Justin Timberlake), but he takes a shine to the pretty guest, now trailed by a couple of mob guys (Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa of The Sopranos). Winslet steals the show as the yearning wife, but the real star is veteran cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (The Conformist, Apocalypse Now, The Last Emperor). Wait for the video, turn down the volume, and watch the real drama of sunlight flooding a room.
Wonder Wheel
PG-13 • 1 hour 41 min • 2017
