Everyone Says I Love You is a 1996 musical dramedy written and directed by Woody Allen and starring a large Ensemble Cast of actors who aren't known for their singing.
Like a lot of Woody Allen movies, the film is set in New York and features loads of characters. This particular film distinguishes itself by having the characters randomly break into song. The musical numbers, and the entire tone of the film are a Shout-Out to the musicals of the 1920s and 1930s.
Characters include:
- DJ Berlin (Natasha Lyonne) - The Narrator of the film, daughter of Joe and Steffie
- Joe Berlin (Woody Allen) - Father of DJ, ex-husband of Steffie. Also a neurotic, insecure writer.
- Steffie Dandridge (Goldie Hawn) - Mother of DJ, Lane and Laura; ex-wife of Joe, wife of Bob. A philanthropist.
- Bob Dandridge (Alan Alda) - Father of Skylar, Scott, Lane and Laura; husband of Steffie. A lawyer.
- Scott Dandridge (Lukas Haas) - Bob's son from his first marriage; considered the Black Sheep of the family for his conservative beliefs.
- Skylar Dandridge (Drew Barrymore) - Bob's daughter from his first marriage. Dating Holden.
- Lane and Laura Dandridge (Gaby Hoffmann and Natalie Portman) - Bob and Steffie's daughters. Sometimes creep into Bratty Teenage Daughter territory.
- Holden Spence (Edward Norton) - Skylar's boyfriend/fiance, a lawyer who works for Bob.
- Von Sidell (Julia Roberts) - A woman whose therapy sessions DJ listens in to (the therapist is the mother of one of Lane and Laura's friends) and decides would be a perfect match for her father.
- Charles Ferry (Tim Roth) - a recently-released criminal who Steffie invites for dinner; he takes an interest in Skylar.
Examples
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Skylar dumps Holden to hook up with Charles.Steffi: Speaking as a woman, Holden can be very animal too.
Skylar: Yes, Mom, but it's of the gerbil family. - Amicable Exes: Joe and Steffie. Helped by Joe getting along well with Bob.
- Arc Words: The song "I'm Through With Love" is repeated by every character, leading up to the climactic dance between Steffie and Joe by the Seine. Ends up being a Brick Joke when DJ's umpteenth love interest gangsta raps it on stage.
- Author Avatar: Writer/director Woody Allen as Joe
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Von breaks up with Joe because he's too perfect for her, not knowing that Joe was privvy to all of her deepest secrets and desires. When Joe asks her what she would have thought if he DID have access to them, she replies that she'd think he was pathetic.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: As The Narrator, DJ does this often.DJ: We're not the typical family from a musical comedy.
- When Bob starts singing "I'm Through With Love" when Skylar reveals she dumped Holden, Steffie quizzically asks, "What are you singing about? You're not in love with Holden!"
- Carpe Diem: "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)"Grandpa's Ghost: Some day you say, you'll have some fun, when you're a millionaire. (sings) Imagine all that fun you'll have in your old rocking chair!
- City of Canals: Joe and DJ holiday in Venice.
- The Dead Can Dance: See The "Fun" in "Funeral" trope below.
- Extreme Doormat: Holden is so docile that he brings even the Deadpan Snarker in Skylar.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Grandpa's funeral turns into a musical performance of Guy Lombardo's 'Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)', complete with dancing ghosts.
- Gay Paree: Joe lives in Paris for most of the year, and the Dandridges are vacationing there at the end of the film.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Lane and Laura compete for the attentions of the same boy. One of them will end up heartbroken...
- Happily Married: Bob and Steffie.
- Here We Go Again!: Holden should stop putting wedding rings in desserts.
- Ironic Echo: Holden's melancholy rendition of 'I'm Through With Love' after Skylar leaves him being swiftly followed by a rapper performing at a concert DJ's attending.
- Rapper: Yo check it I'm through with love / I'm through with all you muthafuckas
- Jerkass: After hooking up with Skylar, Charles proceeds to dump her in a forest in upstate New York in the midst of a planned robbery heist that goes wrong.
- Expectedly, Skylar herself goes back to Holden and says 'yes' when he proposes to her again realising that she won't get another chance to find someone with whom she can both settle with and be ok with her moving around.
- Kavorka Man: Joe
- Magic Realism: The entire film has the air of a Fairy Tale, which is justified as it's a Show Within a Show, but toes the line long enough that the gravity defying dance between Joe and Steffie doesn't break the Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
- The Matchmaker: DJ goes to great lengths to fix her father up with Von, giving him advice (courtesy of listening in on Von's therapy sessions) and encouragement.
- May–December Romance: Joe and Von.
- Nice Guy: Holden to a detrimental extent, portrayed by Edward Norton Playing Against Type.
- Nuclear Family: The Dandridges are a blended version of this.
- Really Gets Around: DJ runs through men like Kleenex, it seems.
- Runaway Fiancé: Subverted- Skylar leaves Holden for Charles Ferry but then after getting a taste of what its like to live with a hardened gangster and be always on the lam she decides to return to the safe haven that Holden provides.
- Scenery Porn: The film was shot in New York City, Paris, and Venice.
- Shout-Out:
- The main family is named after Irving Berlin.
- One of the final musical numbers in the film is "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", and is sung (in French) by the ensemble cast wearing Groucho Marx glasses and moustaches.
- The title of the film is a nod to another film starring The Marx Brothers, Horse Feathers.
- DJ's perfect man? Harpo.
- Show Within a Show: Implied by DJ at the end that the entire movie is a musical. She states she was told that if it were made into a movie, no one would believe the incredible coincidences unless it was a musical.
- Spontaneous Choreography: Everywhere in this film!
- Stalker with a Crush: Joe's courtship of Von, in large part thanks to his daughters knowledge of Von's inner thoughts.
- Strawman Political: Scott Dandridge is the conservative version of this, at least until he has heart surgery and wakes up a liberal, much to Bob's joy. Scott's conservatism is handwaved as being down to not enough oxygen getting to his brain.
- Steffie's "limousine liberalism" is also very much a political stereotype. Lampshaded when she says to Skylar that Charles Ferry is fine to treat as just a "social project" but not as an actual human being.
- Theme Naming / Shout-Out: The main families are named after Irvin Berlin and Putney Dandridge.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Frieda, Grandpa's nurse, is heavily implied to have worked under Adolf Hitler.Bob: Frieda, this pasta doesn't have any sauce.Frieda: It's Bavarian pasta, it doesn't need sauce. The Italians need sauce. The Italians were weak!
- Title Drop: "Everyone Says I Love You" is the final song of the film.
- Tutti Frutti Hat: In the Halloween scene, one of the trick-or-treaters is dressed as Carmen Miranda and even does an impression of her for D.J. and their guests.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Both times Holden proposes to Skylar, and both manage to Go Horribly Wrong.
- For the first proposal, Holden hides the ring in Skylar's dessert, and she ends up swallowing it.
- The second involves him hiding it in a box of candy with virtually the same results.
- With This Ring: Of the 'hide it in a dessert at a romantic dinner' variety. See Wacky Marriage Proposal.
- World of Snark: Everyone engages in it, even the straight-laced Skylar.Steffie: Holden can be an animal, too!
Skylar: Yes, of the chipmunk variety!