WONDER WHEEL Trailer

Another year, another Woody Allen film. The annual event is always met with excitement by his ardent supporters, but some years, like this one, attracts more attention than others.

That’s what happens when you cast Kate Winslet as your lead, and so she joins the long list of prominent actresses to sign on for the Woody Allen experience. Seriously, it’s hard to name a leading lady who hasn’t gotten into a love triangle or anxiously smoked in one of his films, and Winslet gets to do both in Wonder Wheel.

A period piece set in New York’s Coney Island, Wonder Wheel sees Winslet’s Ginny contend with the return of her husband’s daughter. The event sets off an unraveling narrated by Justin Timberlake’s attentive lifeguard, and the cast list spills out with the usual Allen expansiveness (although with a strange amount of names that begin with a J).

J-named conspiracy theories aside, this looks like an opportunity for a tour de force performance from Winslet, which immediately brings to mind Cate Blanchett’s indomitable turn in Blue Jasmine. Whether Winslet becomes the toast of awards season as well remains to be seen, but what’s already come is the ubiquitous question about whether these women should work with Allen at all. Allegations of sexual abuse have hovered around him for decades, and given the recent rash of prominent men falling from grace due to past behavior around women, these questions are likely to become very pointed.

So Wonder Wheel is coming, whether we want the associated baggage or not, and at least the film itself is shaping up to be a good time.

Wonder Wheel is directed by Woody Allen and stars Kate Winslet, Jim Belushi, Juno Temple, and Justin Timberlake. It will be released in the U.S. on December 1st, 2017. For international release dates, click here.

Are you excited for another Woody Allen film? Let us know in the comments!