CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
(1989) ***1/2 (out of four)
In the vein of his earlier HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, Woody Allen's CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS covers the familiar territories of adultery and integrity and the spectrum of compromise between the two. The film centers around a doctor (Martin Landau) who has been carrying on an affair with Anjelica Huston (and won't Gomez be pissed?) but now wants to break it off. She's suddenly been acting obsessive, threatening to blackmail him with not only the news of his unfaithfulness but also the knowledge of Landau's embezzlement.
A guy like this would never consider something so serious as murder, but when his Mafioso brother Jack (Jerry Orbach) tells Landau he could have her bumped off with one phone call -- one very lethal phone call. The only voice of reason is a rabbi patient of his (Sam Waterston), but would you listen to a man with curly sideburns? Neither would he, and soon Huston has made her last threat... and yes, Gomez is pissed.
On a lighter note, Woody plays a documentary director (probably the only media occupation he hasn't portrayed yet... Coming soon: Woody the Gaffer!) who is so hard up for work that he agrees to do a biopic of producer-of-TV-trash Alan Alda (translation: Aaron Spelling), a man Woody completely abhors. In a movie where everyone is guilty of some crime or misdemeanor, Woody's character's transgression is a more symbolic murder of his artistic integrity.
On location for the documetary, Woody meets one of his co-producers, omnipresent Allen movie favorite Mia Farrow, and falls in love with her. But he's in competition with Alda, who's committing a crime or misdemeanor of the heart by trying to add a Farrow notch to his bedpost through deception and seduction. Never mind that Alda has been using and losing twentyish women through the entire movie and is now after menopausal Farrow, she falls for him even though a woman with her character and strength should obviously be with Woody.
All these characters are tied together through some sort of blood or marriage lines and by the end Landau is getting advice from Woody, which is about the point I'd say bite the bullet and pay a therapist two hundred bucks an hour. In CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, Allen explores meaningful life questions about how some people can get away with murder and virtue isn't always rewarded. He also shows how guilt can trip up an otherwise perfect crime all the while adding in his usual perfectly hilarious one-liners. One more great film from Woody Hitchcock.
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