Black and white film of Woody Allen playing a filmmaker who is known for his comedies--and is sick of making them. Still that seems to be all that the public wants. He goes off for a weekend to a retrospective of his films and the film follows him that weekend.
I saw this WAY back in 1980 in a theatre. I was bored silly. Right after that I went to see "Motel Hell" and had more fun with that! I think I was just too young to appreciate it--20+ years later it looks pretty good. This was just before Allen started making those endlessly depressing and negative films ("September" anyone?) that almost destroyed his career. This isn't all that bad--but no great shakes either.
It starts off with a VERY funny train sequence (which includes the film debut of Sharon Stone) and then takes off veering wildly between comedy and drama--never finding a comfortable melding of the two. It also depicts his fans as being clinging, mentally ill and looking like rejects from a Fellini film. Some people thought this was a swipe in the face to his fans but I didn't get that feeling. It has childhood memories which add nothing to the story and has an ending that was WAY too strange. This is basically a mediation on fame and success which tells us nothing new.
Still it is well-directed and written. Allen is good; Charlotte Rampling is excellent; Jessica Harper nicely underplays her role and Marie-Christine Barrault is good too. Also it's fun to see Laraine Newman and Louise Lasser appear (unbilled) in small funny roles. Not a washout but not successful either. I was never bored (the second time around). I give it a 7.
I saw this WAY back in 1980 in a theatre. I was bored silly. Right after that I went to see "Motel Hell" and had more fun with that! I think I was just too young to appreciate it--20+ years later it looks pretty good. This was just before Allen started making those endlessly depressing and negative films ("September" anyone?) that almost destroyed his career. This isn't all that bad--but no great shakes either.
It starts off with a VERY funny train sequence (which includes the film debut of Sharon Stone) and then takes off veering wildly between comedy and drama--never finding a comfortable melding of the two. It also depicts his fans as being clinging, mentally ill and looking like rejects from a Fellini film. Some people thought this was a swipe in the face to his fans but I didn't get that feeling. It has childhood memories which add nothing to the story and has an ending that was WAY too strange. This is basically a mediation on fame and success which tells us nothing new.
Still it is well-directed and written. Allen is good; Charlotte Rampling is excellent; Jessica Harper nicely underplays her role and Marie-Christine Barrault is good too. Also it's fun to see Laraine Newman and Louise Lasser appear (unbilled) in small funny roles. Not a washout but not successful either. I was never bored (the second time around). I give it a 7.