There was a day, not that long ago, when a Woody Allen movie was a major event. Allen is an Oscar winner, one of the most influential filmmakers in history, and a man who has made at least a dozen great movies, but he's also living proof that working too much can dull your creativity and your audience's anticipation. Even diehard Allen fans probably don't know that he has a new movie, already opened in New York and Los Angeles, and opening around the rest of the country today. The even-more startling thing is that the film isn't bad. It's easily understood why horrific misfires like The Curse of the Jade Scorpion or Anything Else were ignored or swept under the rug, but Cassandra's Dream is a decent drama with strong performances and that more crisp pace that Allen has developed since he jumped the pond. It's nowhere near as good as Match Point, even if it does feel like a sequel to that brilliant film, but it's also not nearly as bad as the more-recent Scoop or a dozen other Allen films. And yet, most people don't even know it exists. Maybe Allen needs to make us miss him to not take his output for granted.

The few people that do stumble across Cassandra's Dream will find a film that first feels like a comedy, then a drama, then a thriller, and, eventually, even a response to the criticism of Match Point. Some disliked that film for its lack of likable characters and its harsh, cynical ending. In Cassandra's Dream, Allen takes two brothers and puts them in a similarly heinous predicament as the hero from Match Point, but makes them the kind of sad sacks that you root for, even though you know there's no way they can pull it off. Dream centers around two brothers named Ian and Terry (a well-cast Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, respectively) who both want something bigger than their dull waiter and mechanic lives and they're willing to ruin their lives trying to get there. Ian spends money he doesn't have, sometimes from his dad's safe, to impress his sexy new girlfriend (Hayley Atwell), and Terry has a gambling problem that gets out of control. When their highly respected uncle (Tom Wilkinson) - the man they both want to become because they equate money with success - suggests a Hitchockian plan to get them out of debt, they play along and the sad consequences of their acts unfold in a fashion Alfred would have truly loved.

For anyone who's seen Match Point, the main themes of Cassandra's Dream - class, money, murder - have to sound awfully familiar, and it's startling that Allen would choose to go back to that well so soon, perhaps further proof that perhaps he should take longer between projects. But that stale sensation is one of the few flaws with the film. If Match Point hadn't been made, Dream would be getting a lot more press. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not nearly as strong a film - the final act gets far too repetitive and the ending is much weaker - but Farrell, McGregor, and Tom Wilkinson all deliver engaging performances, and the early scenes crackle with an inevitable dread. Allen seems to be saying that you can dream big, but don't do too much about those dreams or you'll regret it. Ian and Terry never see what's in front of their face, always thinking about tomorrow instead of today. They miss what's really important. Sadly, it seems like most people, even Allen fans, are likely to miss Cassandra's Dream.