MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY
A film review by Jon Webb
Copyright 1993 Jon Webb
This is a solid Woody Allen film, not unlike some of his earlier comedies (ANNIE HALL and PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM come to mind, though this is more realistic). Woody and Diane Keaton are a bored middle-aged couple, drifting towards divorce, when Keaton gets interested in the--to her--strange actions of a neighbor. She decides that a murder has occurred, and that she will solve it. Woody, of course, disbelieves everything and worries incessantly.
Angelica Huston and Alan Alda also play significant roles, and do it well. Given Allen's recent problems, it's apparent that his friends rallied to help him make this film, which must have been a relief from the trial and the accusations in the press.
You can really see Allen reaching to reconnect with his traditional audience her. He does his nervous variations on Chaplin-esque moves, like constantly rearranging his cards while playing poker. The scene in the elevator is a classic.
The movie includes the jerky hand-held camera style he explored in HUSBANDS AND WIVES but it is not so annoying here. There's only one scene where the effect is really noticeable, and even there it is not so bad as to make one dizzy, as in his last film.
-- J
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