In a universe where things ran properly, Woody Allen would go back and remake DECONSTRUCTING HARRY and have a chance to set right the things that went wrong with it, and emphasize its many strong points.
Unlike his later Hollywood ENDING, which was a total disaster, and ANYTHING ELSE, which was only slightly better, this film has a lot of intelligent things to say. As a bonus, it includes a small army of actresses- Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Judy Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julie Kavner, Demi Moore, Elizabeth Shue- who should be superstars and working all the time, but Hollywood just doesn't utilize them enough.
Unfortunately, the film hits an awful lot of false notes. The editing is often jumpy, cutting forward in the middle of a sentence. Maybe this is supposed to duplicate a bored viewer using the fast forward on the remote. While I'm certainly not a prude, I found the constant profanity irritating. Cole Porter was right: Writers who once knew much better words/Now only use four letter words/Writing prose:/Anything goes.
Allen may think that he's being hip and with it using this language. Unfortunately, he sounds like a senior citizen using affected speech. There are plenty of hacks writing direct to video teen comedies who can use these words.
Worse yet, in this film Allen finally includes two non-white characters. One is Asian, the other Black. Sadly, they're both prostitutes.
Woody was 62 when this came out. He surrounds himself with young, beautiful women. Hey, the guy's only going through life once. Give him a break.
Unlike his later Hollywood ENDING, which was a total disaster, and ANYTHING ELSE, which was only slightly better, this film has a lot of intelligent things to say. As a bonus, it includes a small army of actresses- Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Judy Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julie Kavner, Demi Moore, Elizabeth Shue- who should be superstars and working all the time, but Hollywood just doesn't utilize them enough.
Unfortunately, the film hits an awful lot of false notes. The editing is often jumpy, cutting forward in the middle of a sentence. Maybe this is supposed to duplicate a bored viewer using the fast forward on the remote. While I'm certainly not a prude, I found the constant profanity irritating. Cole Porter was right: Writers who once knew much better words/Now only use four letter words/Writing prose:/Anything goes.
Allen may think that he's being hip and with it using this language. Unfortunately, he sounds like a senior citizen using affected speech. There are plenty of hacks writing direct to video teen comedies who can use these words.
Worse yet, in this film Allen finally includes two non-white characters. One is Asian, the other Black. Sadly, they're both prostitutes.
Woody was 62 when this came out. He surrounds himself with young, beautiful women. Hey, the guy's only going through life once. Give him a break.