MIGHTY APHRODITE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Even a good director can have an off
film, but MIGHTY APHRODITE is an amazing misfire
for Woody Allen in many different ways. Most
serious of all, the vast majority of the gags fall
embarrassingly flat as if Allen is starting to have
problems judging what is funny. Rating: -1 (-4 to
+4)
MIGHTY APHRODITE is a strange title. I guess the implication is that love or at least sex is a powerful force in people's lives. Or perhaps that love conquers all. But the title just does not seem to be all that clever and in the final analysis it just does not work very well. That makes it perfect for one of Woody Allen's rare films that is a nearly complete total misfire. Admittedly, it is hard to be totally objective about whether a film is funny or not, but from my point of view the jokes fail one after another. Perhaps part of the problem is Allen's choosing the motif of the Greek drama complete with chorus to comment on the action. Somehow lampooning Greek choruses is an exercise in futility. It worked with Russian literature in LOVE AND DEATH because he hit many different aspects of Russian literature and make clear what he was kidding in each case. Here it is one or two jokes repeated over and over. One joke is to have the chorus use modern language and especially Yiddishisms. The other is to have the chorus sing modern music and it is a very similar gag. Generally Greek choruses just are not funny and it takes a great deal of skill to make these jokes funny the first time they are used. When Allen milks the jokes by using them repeatedly, they fail him in a major way.
The story told is of couple Lenny (Woody Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) who are considering adopting a child. Lenny is a newspaper sportswriter and plays the role only a little less believably than he played Jimmy Bond in CASINO ROYALE. Posing him standing on a basketball court cannot make the New York intellectual look or sound like a sportswriter. Suddenly the couple who have applied for a child are given an opportunity to adopt if they decide to quick, quick, quick. (Is this really how the adoption process works?) They go with it and get what turns out to be a great child. But Lenny is obsessed with finding the child's real mother. The agency has a rule against giving out this information and, in fact, to do so would be breaking the law. But in an incredibly contrived scene Lenny gets the illegal information. Lenny tracks the woman down to find her to be hooker and porno actress, Linda (Mira Sorvino). Linda has a winning personality, a losing intellect, and an irritating voice. Getting interested in the woman's life, Lenny tries to arrange a marriage for her with a boxer, Kevin (Michael Rapaport), and to bury the feelings he is starting to have for her.
The jokes in this film are not just unfunny, some verge on mean- spirited. Among the subject for jest are about how stupid Linda and Kevin are. Kevin has to ask to find out which is his right fist and which is the left. It is not very likely and even less funny. One of the hallmarks of a Woody Allen script is the clever dialogue. Here the dialogue comes off as neither believable nor witty. And it is given too important a place. Scenes that would have major dramatic impact take place off-screen. Prostitute Linda is freed of her entire unwanted commitment to her pimp, but we never see her reaction when she is told. A later major scene between Kevin and Linda we are told about but do not see. Instead these scenes appear to have been eliminated to allow room for "witty" dialogue scenes that do not advance the plot and eventually drag.
The strain of writing, directing, and starring in a film, as he does here, is starting to show on Allen. Each task is executed with unexpected mediocrity here. Allen does absolutely nothing to distinguish his current character from the one he played in previous films like MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY. Helena Bonham Carter's role is fairly colorless and is a departure for her only in that she is not playing an indignant, pouty aristocrat. Mira Sorvino wins the film on points alone. Her likable prostitute, with the Liza Doolittle propensity for saying the unintentionally shocking, steals the show. Ordinarily, stealing a Woody Allen film is a major distinction. With MIGHTY APHRODITE it seems hardly worth the effort. Hopefully Allen will be back on form next film. This one gets an amazing -1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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