Jodie Foster’s “Money Monster” is a middling movie with great ambitions that aren’t fully realized. The George Clooney-Julia Roberts effort which opens today in the US was shown in Cannes last to a lot of fanfare. But it’s a commercial studio film from Sony, and it was brought to Cannes to gain international marketing renown. Because you know, if “Money Monster” were going to be a big hit, Foster, Clooney and Roberts would have been all over the US media this week promoting it. Instead, they are here in Cannes.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting, or doesn’t have a couple of surprise performances of note from newcomers Jack O’Connell and Caitriona Balfe. It’s also great to see Giancarlo Esposito as the captain of the New York police.

But “Money Monster” doesn’t know if it’s anti-Wall Street or pro, and in its short 90 minutes the theme is abandoned and the movie becomes a thriller. The plot: a Jim Cramer like TV financial advisor played by Clooney is held hostage in his studio by O’Connell, who’s lost money on an investment Clooney touted. Roberts is Clooney’s TV producer. Much more we don’t learn about the characters — they are all surface, there to fill a purpose in the plot.

All the actors do their best but this is a talky movie. Roberts, I think, only stands up twice. Mostly she sits. (Contrast this with the way Helen Mirren moves around in “Eye in the Sky.”) Foster doesn’t have a great visual style– see “The Beaver”– and I’d rather have seen her act in a film anyway.

The cast (well the stars) hit the Cannes red carpet with a vengeance. Clooney was the only one to include a spouse– Amal — in the processional. Later the Clooneys skipped the big private dinner at Michelangelo in Antibes (set for 90 people) and went to dine at another locale with friends. Very weird. Roberts went barefoot on the red carpet because she thought she towered over Foster. (For days all I’ve heard around town are horror stories about her repellent publicist.)

Also on the red carpet: Vanessa Redgrave with son Carlo, famed director James Ivory, Julianne Moore, and the mayor of Cannes.

Only Balfe turned up for an after party at the Hotel du Cap bar, but there were plenty of other stars hobnobbing until the wee hours including Mick Jagger, Brett Ratner, Naomi Watts, and so on. Roberts and her very bearded husband, Danny Moder, sailed through the bar to their rooms at one point without stopping.

What will happen with “Money Monster”? The box office depends solely on Clooney and Roberts drawing an audience. There’s no love story, and no one to root for. These will be problems. But O’Connell, of them all, who we met in Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken,” is going to soar after this.

Cannes is full of announcements today.

I can tell you that tomorrow legendary singer Dionne Warwick, one of the greats, will be here to announce she’s made a deal for biopic. AMBI Pictures is producing. Tomorrow we’ll know more after we see Dionne walk on by at the Carlton. Her story is amazing, rising up from her family’s church and gospel group in New Jersey to international fame and fortune. And oh– those hits– from Bacharach and David to Dionne’s later hits like “Heartbreaker” and how she created “That’s What Friends Are For.” Her sister Dee Dee was a famous singer, as was her cousin Whitney Houston. Should be good…

Other side of music world– Courtney Love will star with Joey King in “The Possibility of Fireflies.” Dominique Paul will write the script based on her novel. Deborah Chow is directing. Courtney is better known as a rocker, but she’s had some great moments on screen.

Forget all this crap about Woody Allen that you see in today’s tabloids. He has an easily manipulated son. And a stupid French comic embarrassed him by accident. Woody’s over it.

He’s so over it that Woody came to lunch today with the American press at the beautiful Hotel Carlton’s Nikki Beach restaurant. He came with “Cafe Society” cast members Jesse Eisenberg, Cory Stoll, Kristen Stewart and Blake Lively. Woody, dressed like Woody, was a in very good mood and answered all questions.

But the most surprising revelation about Woody came from Jesse Eisenberg, who turns out to Allen’s best ever on screen surrogate. Jesse plays the romantic lead in “Cafe Society,” a young man who suffers from unrequited love in a triangle with Stewart and her older lover (played beautifully by Steve Carell).

Eisenberg, asked what it’s like to work with an 80 year old director, responded with all kinds of salutations about Woody’s high energy. But then he blurted out a good scoop: “He shot this in digital for the first time, and it’s the first time Woody ever had a green screen in a movie.”

A green screen is used for special effects. You act in front of a blue or green screen, and the shot is added later. In “Cafe Society,” Eisenberg and Stewart drive to the famed Hollywood sign. The sign was added in later.
“He looked at the [empty] screen and he said, where’s the picture?” Jesse chuckled. “It was very sweet.”

Woody told us his Amazon six part TV series with Miley Cyrus and Elaine May is all wrapped and ready to go this fall. “Cafe Society” is released on July 15th. And this week in New York, Allen starts work on his 47th feature, an untitled comedy set in a carnival type playland like Coney Island.

Woody Allen’s publicist, Leslee Dart, has banned The Hollywood Reporter from today’s press lunch in Cannes for “Cafe Society.” She’s absolutely correct.

The Hollywood Reporter is run by an editor who used to edit US Weekly, Janice Min. Take that into account for how that site now works. I often criticize THR myself because they liberally sample stories from other publications without credit– or a minimal one that makes them look like they wrote it.

This week, Woody Allen is on the cover of their magazine. The cover story is a fawning Q&A, and the magazine begged for it. They used Woody to give themselves a prestigious look for Cannes. Only they benefited from it.

So what a surprise yesterday when Woody’s estranged son, Ronan Farrow, failed MSNBC show host, attacked Allen in a piece on The Reporter’s website. It was designed solely to embarrass and humiliate Woody for the opening of his film at Cannes. Farrow is manipulated by his mother, Mia Farrow, who suggested a couple of years ago that Frank Sinatra was really Ronan’s father. If only. Ronan certainly demonstrates Sinatra’s spitefulness. That’s not a Woody Allen trait.

If Ronan Farrow really believed all the things his mother and sister say about Woody, he could confront him privately. They could go for counseling. Instead, Ronan (and Mia) use the press for shock value to hurt Allen. They have no interest in getting to the truth or getting closure. It’s despicable.

And the Hollywood Reporter– that’s not journalism, that’s just trash. They’re no better than a supermarket tabloid, or US Weekly. And they turned against their cover subject for no reason. Other celebrities should take note of what happened. That’s the REAL Hollywood Reporter. Blech.

Yes, yes, maybe you heard Katy Perry is going to perform at the Cannes amFAR dinner this year. Sharon Stone will be allowed back, as well.

But amFAR is going to be upstaged earlier in the week by bigger stars at a more lavish event.

Chopard’s Cannes gala on Monday,May 16th is going to feature an all out show by the diva of all divas, Miss Diana Ross. And opening for the one and only leader of the Supremes will be DJ Mark Ronson, he of the “Uptown Funk” Grammy award this year.

Already the glitterati are fighting to get into the Chopard dinner, which will also feature a bevy of stars including (or starting with) Helen Mirren. (No Jane Fonda this year– she has already started filming season three of “Grace and Frankie” with Lily Tomlin for Netflix.)

And get this: this is the same night the Croisette will be at a traffic standstill from a Harvey Weinstein produced tribute to Robert De Niro and the advanced screening of his film “Hands of Stone.”

PS The other Cannes craziness involves Justin Timberlake’s appearance this Wednesday afternoon for the presentation of “Trolls” footage by DreamWorks Animation. Since Friday, Timberlake has had the number 1 single in the world with “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” The word is he may be performing it in conjunction with that presentation.

And that is how they roll in Cannes 2016!