"The heart has its own hieroglyphics." Mickey (Justin Timberlake)

Wonder Wheel is a wonder of despair juxtaposed with the cheap nostalgia and common lyricism evoked by its 1950's Coney Island setting. Ginny (Kate Winslet) is trapped in a loveless marriage with a Ralph Kramden-like carney, Humpty (Jim Belushi). Indeed, their lives are destined to come tumbling down.

In tragic fashion, Ginny is having an affair with lifeguard Mickey, who eventually falls for her step daughter, Carolina (Juno Temple). Given that Humpty wears wife beaters with a penchant to beat Ginny up, the tragic conclusions seem inevitable. True to an extent, but what writer/director Woody Allen seems to be after goes beyond the cliché into a realm of despair over bad choices and unshakeable fate, where outside forces take over once they are ignited by the principals' decisions.

As if the foolishness of Ginny's cougar relationship were not enough to spark tragedy, Carolina is pursued by the mob, an avenging force hardly to be stopped by minor characters on a boardwalk. None of this melodrama is excitingly different from many black and white TV dramas of the fifties or Allen's own Manhattan, etc., yet Allen infuses it with characters we root for because their pathos is an ingredient of the failed American dream so many of the middle class experience in their daily lives.

Allen has revived the kitchen-sink realistic dramas so successfully launched in Britain in the '50s and early '60s. Apropos of the doomed triangle of Wonder Wheel is an original kitchen-sink called Look Back in Anger (1956). Disillusionment is manifest in ironing boards and kitchen sinks, the hotbeds of despair for disadvantaged women.

Wonder Wheel is his best acting ensemble yet, possibly a result of the director taking unusual care with actors' performances. Hardly worthy of the sometimes magical dialogue of other Allen dramadies such as Midnight in Paris, Wonder Wheel has a raw feel, a realistic tint unlike much else he has created. While rough to see characters go through calamities most of us at least have a faint relationship with, it's salutary to see the Woodman touch down with the real people and make characters that aren't his doppelgangers.

It's not funny Woody; it's real Woody, and it's wonderful.

Woody Allen often is an interesting and insightful director, whose films regardless of how they come off overall look great, have great soundtracks and he often knows how to get strong performances out of actors, at his best his writing was a fine mix of the hilarious, the poignantly dramatic and the thought-provoking.

Allen's glory days were in the late 60s through to the early 90s, with the 70s and 80s (which saw masterpieces like 'Annie Hall', 'Crimes and Misdemeanours', 'Hannah and Her Sisters', 'Radio Days' and 'Manhattan' for example) being particularly good decades. From mid-90s onwards he became hit and miss, with the odd gem like 'Midnight in Paris' and 'Blue Jasmine' but generally his glory days are long gone.

As far as his films from the 2010s decade go, 'Midnight in Paris' and 'Blue Jasmine' are vastly superior, but 'Wonder Wheel' does fare much better than 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" and particularly 'To Rome With Love'. It isn't great and doesn't quite have enough wonder, far from being one of Allen's best, but it is not terrible, much better than critics have said it to be and is a long way from being one of Allen's worst. In terms of ranking, it's somewhere around low-middling.

'Wonder Wheel's' biggest selling point is the cinematography, which is truly magnificent. Every shot takes the breath away and bathed in rich vivid colours. The setting is also beautiful. The soundtrack also is an ideal fit, giving a real sense of period as well as being a wonderful soundtrack on its own.

Some of the writing is poignant and thought-provoking (this is a serious Allen effort so there is very little in the humour department),succeeding in not making things too black and white, good and bad, every character has flaws while having enough that stops us from hating them too much (or at least that's my stance and perhaps not a popular one).

The story did maintain interest, didn't come over as dull to me and thematically and characterisation-wise it's a long way from simple, pretty heavy themes handled seriously. Allen directs nicely and efficiently enough and the relationships intrigue. Most of the performances are good. Astounding in Kate Winslet's case, inhabiting her way in a way that's both intense and moving. James Belushi similarly excels in an atypically serious role for him and Juno Temple is luminous.

Justin Timberlake however is far less successful. Have to agree with those who found him miscast and out of place, he also came over as annoying and badly overdid the neurotic aspects of his character in a film where generally the neuroses were overdone. He suffers from the worst of the dialogue too, as said there is enough evidence of good writing elsewhere but some of it is also unnatural and over-heated.

Like the script, the storytelling is uneven too. Enough of it is poignant, thought-provoking and insightful, other parts (too many) are overwritten melodrama that doesn't quite come together and there is as noted elsewhere a staginess that is not going to connect with some because it doesn't allow the drama to fully expand.

Other than Timberlake's performance, the other biggest problem is the ending. Another instance of one that's far too inconclusive and like Allen didn't know how to end it, plot points were begging for resolution and were instead left hanging in the air or too ambiguous.

In conclusion, didn't work entirely for me, which is disappointing for an Allen film, but not a bad film by any stretch with a good deal to recommend (especially the cinematography and Winslet). 6/10 Bethany Cox

The best thing I like about Wonder Wheel is Woody Allen marvelous re-creation of the Coney Island scene in the 50s where and when he and I both grew up in Brooklyn. The cyclone rollercoaster, the parachute drop, and of course the storied Wonder Wheel are all still there as is Nathan's hotdogs which we never did see. But as Justin Timberlake whose character narrates the film the fabled sandbar amusement park with the old Boardwalk was starting to show signs of decay and seediness. It reached its heights in the 80s but is now turning around. They've built a baseball stadium for the Single A Brooklyn Cyclones now and they draw very well. Given the area a much needed growth spurt.

A couple Jim Belushi and Kate Winslet live at and run a carousel concession and business is always in streaks. Implied quite truthfully is that this is a six month business. Coney Island closes down for the most part, No one there to ride Belushi's carousel and Timberlake's services as a lifeguard on the beach are not needed.

Which works out perfectly for Timberlake who is going to graduate school most likely on the GI bill and lifeguarding supplements his income. He's a World War II navy veteran and he's lived a glamorous life at least in the eyes stepmother Kate Winslet and stepdaughter Juno Temple whom the hunky lifeguard gets involved with.

Winslet is married to Temple's father Belushi. It's the second marriage for both and she has a son Jack Gore by her first marriage who is in some serious need of mental health therapy. The boy likes to start fires and might even burn them out of house, home and carousel the little pyromaniac.

Temple is on the run from the gangster husband she married. She was most indiscreet in a business which discretion is the lifeblood.

Winslet gets the acting honors her portrayal of a woman in love with love who blows up one marriage with her lustful habits and is getting ready to blow up another with her affair with Timberlake.

Timberlake's role is a strange one. Imagine a hunky Woody Allen and you've got his character. All the constant self analyzing in Allen protagonists are present here. It's in character as Timberlake is an English major looking to write. He's both involved in the story, but also trying to keep a certain distant perspective.

I also have to say that as a Brooklynite, Timberlake does well but just doesn't ring true Brooklyn in spots.

I must say Jim Belushi brings a certain layer of depth to his character. He's a broken down middle-aged failure, going to seed as is the area that surrounds him. He's a drunk and a wife beater, but you do feel sorry for him.

I lived it there and I can certainly attest to the ambience that my fellow Brooklyn born Woody Allen brings to this film.