“Blue Jasmine” is sort-of a comedy and kind-of a drama directed by Woody Allen (“Annie Hall”, “Sleeper”) and while it didn’t really laugh at it or get that attached to anybody in it, the film just has such a pleasant entity that you can’t help but thoroughly enjoy it… I guess that’s the best way to describe it.

“Blue Jasmine” dances around the timeline of roughly a decade as we meet Jasmine (Cate Blanchett “The Aviator”, “Robin Hood”), who maybe out and about but has never really recovered from the break-down she suffered. Now living with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins “Layer Cake”), Jasmine reminisces about her time with her now-deceased husband Hal (Alec Baldwin “The Hunt For Red October”).

I don’t know what it is but Cate Blanchett’s performance just works so exceptionally well. She used to have it all and now she’s sharing a less than luxurious apartment with her sister. Ginger isn’t as interesting as her sister but I guess she’s okay. I felt Baldwin wasn’t given a lot to do and therefore anybody could have played Hal. There is a dentist character that is so like Woody Allen that he’ll be one of your fondest memories of the film.

I don’t know what it is about “Blue Jasmine” that makes it so good because it’s not unique, it doesn’t appear especially clever and several characters will fade into the back of your mind but while I was watching I just couldn’t get enough of it. Even visually it isn’t an accomplishment so what is it that had me so engrossed? It’s a film where there is nothing obvious that stands out (other than Blanchett); it works as a package. “Blue Jasmine” is a nice reminder that great slow movies can still be made at a time when many movies thrive on people lack of attention.