Review of Mighty Aphrodite (1995) Written and Directed by: Woody Allen Rating: *** out of ****
Just leave it to Woody Allen to compare the life of a neurotic New Yorker to Greek Tragedy - after all, no one else is going to do it. Allen is probably the only American director that can get away with making a film which intercuts a traditional narrative with scenes of a Greek Chorus commenting on the story. Heck, he's the only director who can actually pitch this sort of idea and not be laughed at by the studio executives.
The story follows Lenny (Allen), a sports writer who is persuaded by his wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) to adopt a baby. As the child grows older, Lenny becomes obsessed with finding the parents of the child, and embarks on a minor odyssey to meet them, despite the warning of the Greek Chorus. Eventually he manages to track down the biological mother of his child, Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino), who lacks all of the qualities which Lenny's son seems to posses. She also turns out to be an unintelligent and extremely perverted prostitute. Needless to say, this causes much grief for Lenny and he tries to change her into a wholesome lady so that he can romantically pair her with Kevin (Michael Rapaport), an equally dim boxer.
The Greek Chorus is certainly the most innovative features of this film, and serves as the premise for many of the jokes in the film, such as the Chorus appealing to Zeus for guidance but only getting his answering machine. Unfortunately, the film does suffer a bit from the fact that a few too many of the jokes fall flat, especially considering that this is coming from Woody Allen and not just any other writer-director.
Mira Sorvino won the Academy Award for best actress, and it is a worthy performance. Sorvino manages to portray the naïve character with a sense of balance; she plays dumb but without diving to absurd depths where the authenticity of the character is lost.
Mighty Aphrodite certainly isn't Allen's greatest film, but for fans of his work (like myself), it's still worth seeing how the auteur creates yet another bizarre situation for himself and laughing along as he tries to work it all out.
Reviewed by: A. Estey Copyright 1999, by A. Estey (gbv_adam@hotmail.com)
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