Post by Noah on Apr 5, 2005 11:15:07 GMT -5
Those of us who love Woody Allen have been able to depend on him for one film every year for the last 36 years. He's easily America's most prolific major filmmaker. In recent years, though, the quality of his work has been in decline. I think his last really great film was Sweet and Lowdown in 1999. Since then, he's released a string of limp comedies (Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending, Anything Else) which were not without their charms, but hardly worthy of the canon.
Everyone is desperate to believe he's still got it, and I think that's why Melinda and Melinda has gotten some excellent reviews. Unfortunately, for me, it's just not the return to form which some critics have hailed. It has its moments, and Allen's genius does shine through in a couple of inspired sequences, but the stale taste of his other recent misfires has not gone away.
The basic conceit of the film -- applying the principles of comedy and tragedy separately to the same story -- sounded very promising, and particularly good fodder for Allen's wit and vision. But it doesn't seem to have made the leap beyond concept. Will Ferell joins the ranks of Kenneth Branaugh (Celebrity), John Cusack (Bullets Over Broadway), and Jason Biggs (the noxious Anything Else) by turning in a feature-length Woody Allen impression which almost works.
I think if there's another great film left in Woody Allen, it's going to have to be a period piece. His contemporary Manhattan just doesn't ring true anymore, and of his recent offerings, the most palatable (Sweet and Lowdown, Jade Scorpion) were set in the past. Melinda and Melinda is worth seeing if you're a Woody completist, but don't expect to fall in love again.
Everyone is desperate to believe he's still got it, and I think that's why Melinda and Melinda has gotten some excellent reviews. Unfortunately, for me, it's just not the return to form which some critics have hailed. It has its moments, and Allen's genius does shine through in a couple of inspired sequences, but the stale taste of his other recent misfires has not gone away.
The basic conceit of the film -- applying the principles of comedy and tragedy separately to the same story -- sounded very promising, and particularly good fodder for Allen's wit and vision. But it doesn't seem to have made the leap beyond concept. Will Ferell joins the ranks of Kenneth Branaugh (Celebrity), John Cusack (Bullets Over Broadway), and Jason Biggs (the noxious Anything Else) by turning in a feature-length Woody Allen impression which almost works.
I think if there's another great film left in Woody Allen, it's going to have to be a period piece. His contemporary Manhattan just doesn't ring true anymore, and of his recent offerings, the most palatable (Sweet and Lowdown, Jade Scorpion) were set in the past. Melinda and Melinda is worth seeing if you're a Woody completist, but don't expect to fall in love again.
