****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Last night while clicking through Amazon's Prime offerings on my streaming device, I came across a movie that sounded promising - and I was not disappointed.Wonder Wheel, a 2017 movie by Amazon, proved to be an evening of fine entertainment.Woody Allen wrote and directed film that depicts life along New York's famed Coney Island in the early 1950's. It has four central characters, and in true Woody Allen style, the movie offers a very introspective look into their lives as they tangle and then unwind.Justin Timberlake plays Mickey, a hunky lifeguard whose entry into college was aborted by the outbreak of World War II. Now a Navy veteran who has traveled the world, Mickey is back in New York and enrolled in college where he hopes to develop the skills and insight to become a successful playwright. Mickey, in true Woody Allen fashion, narrates this tragic tale.Ginny (Kate Winslet) is a waitress who works down the beach at Ruby's Clam House. A few years earlier she had been rescued from a bad marriage by Humpty (Jim Belushi), one of the operators of the carousel at the beach. Humpty has provided a home and stability to Ginny and her budding adolescent son who is a chronic fire-starter. Ginny, an ex-actress of minor repute, is growing bored with her life and feels that she is just "playing the part" of a waitress. She is rescued from the malaise of middle age when she meets Mickey the lifeguard and begins a torrid affair during the few brief moments that they can arrange to be together.At that point (and actually the first scene of the movie) Carolina (Juno Temple) makes her appearance at Coney Island. She is Humpty's adult daughter whose life had been sidetracked several years earlier when she gave up the idea of going to college in order to marry a mobster. Eventually that life unraveled, and she gave evidence against the mob to prosecutors. Now she has come to Coney Island, penniless, to hide out with her father.And then one day while walking down the street, Ginny and Carolina, run into Mickey, and Ginny reluctantly introduces the two young people - and Woody Allen goes full Shakespeare - and stars begin to cross!Mickey, who is out to experience life and has been "around the world," is immediately captivated by this blond sprite who has been "around the block."There is no way that it will end well.Wonder Wheel is a magical excursion to Coney Island as it was back in the day. Woody Allen has captured the fun and intrigue of a place that was undoubtedly part of his misspent youth, and he distills those memories into a cinematic masterpiece - along with a soundtrack that tugs at the heartstrings of those of us of a certain age. The story is compelling, and the cast amazing.Overall, it was an evening well spent.
