Crimes and Misdemeanors

Woody Allen's first entry in his trilogy of guilt-filled murder sagas ("Match Point" and "Cassandra's Dream" being the other two) features two stories: the first about a struggling independent filmmaker named Cliff Stern (Allen) who is offered to do a biography on his corny TV producer brother-in-law Lester (Alan Alda), and the second featuring a successful opthamologist named Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau) who is after his mistress (Anjelica Huston) not only for the reason of mending an infidelity, but also because she has information about him embezzling money. The second one sounds a lot like "Match Point", because it is basically the same story (although "Crimes and Misdemeanors" was released in 1989 and "Match Point" was released in 2005), as "Match Point" features Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a man caught between his wife (Emily Mortimer) and his actress mistress (Scarlett Johanson). The story about Stern also involves relationships while married: while shooting the bio, he meets Halle Reed (Mia Farrow) who is smart, funny, and also in dislike of Lester. Stern is unhappy in his marriage to Wendy (Johanna Gleason of "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Heartburn") and falls in love with Reed. Meanwhile, Rosenthal is decides to go through with getting rid of his mistress via his brother (Jerry Orbach) and, such as other characters in Woody Allen films, such as Colin Farrell's Terry in "Cassandra's Dream" and Rhys-Meyers Chris, he feels guilty, as the words of his rabbi Ben (Sam Waterson) weigh down on him. He goes through the routine of other Allen characters such as visiting a detective but, like the others, gets away clean. On the other side, after he compares Lester and Mussolini and shows personal footage and pretty much shows he doesn't understand what an "upbeat biography" is, he is fired, and then, to add to it all, he loses Reed in a "Manhattan"-style manner: to London. But, the bomb falls in later: Lester and Reed are engaged and Stern is down and out. At the very end, the movie finally comes full circle when the two leads meet and greet and Rosenthal discusses his "murder plot" for a movie, which is obviously the same exact thing that happened. And then, it's over. Now to the technical stuff: Landau is good, but does not deserve the Oscar-nomination he got. Woody gets by just being Woody, and although a lot of the humor in the Stern half is very funny and may even match up to "Annie Hall" ("The first woman I was inside was the Statue of Liberty"), it gets lost inside of the double plot structure, that winds up being manic-depressive. What I mean is every time Landau appears it is depressing and every time Allen appears, the jokes pile up, and it doesn't work. The high point of the movie is Alan Alda as Lester, embracing his goofy side and providing us with a satirical, purposely one-dimensional character that actually was hilarious. The music was also very nice. But the cold hard fact (and why "Match Point" worked and this didn't) is that comedy and drama can't function if they are put right next to each other and cross-referenced again and again repeatedly at nearly the same time. B

Love Game: Match Point

A perfectly sinister guilt drama from Woody Allen, whose peak seems to have actually hit right now. He introduces a new type of character into his complex affair: a sort of slick but ultimately extremely guilty guy. He is Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Bend it Like Beckham) a tennis pro turned instructor, who has just accepted his teaching job when Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) takes lessons with him. He is part of a rich, high class family. Chris then meets Chloe (Emily Mortimer of Dear Frankie), who is Tom's sister. She falls head over heels in love with him, and he loves her, until he becomes entranced by the struggling but feisty actress Nola (Scarlett Johanson), who is Tom's fiancee. Their first scene is perfect: she is playing ping-pong and he steps in and their proverbial ping-pong/tennis match begins with a bang as they go back and forth. The two leave lasting impressions on each other, and they fall in love. Then, Chris and Chloe marry. And just after, the bomb drops: Tom and Nola are calling it off. So Chris is tempted, and thinks that Chloe is getting boring, so he starts seeing Nola and soon she is pregnant. This is the major source of tension, as Chris must choose between his rich life, pampering family, and guaranteed job, and his lust. Chloe, meanwhile, does kind of suspect something is up, but Allen's formula rules that out. About that: Allen's ideas have been the same lately. He focuses in on murder and guilt. He does his directing extremely well in this film, while providing a great, innuendo-filled, Oscar-nominated script. (SPOILER ALERT) The film does sort to drive to the same end like his others, as Chris, feeling guilty about his situation and not being able to bring himself to tell his wife, goes to Nola's apartment, and not only fakes a break-in and kills her neighbor but kills her too. And he feels like crap and all, but he believes it is the only way to go. He gets called in by a detective and is heavily suggested as the murderer, but one of his actions saves him. When he was casting off Nola's elderly neighbor's jewelry into the waters of London, Chris accidentally tosses her ring towards the depths, but the ring hits the barrier and stays on land (recalling thoughts of the opening tennis monologue). A murder in the area shows that this ring was being carried by the drug-addled killer (Chris' break-in was classified as a drug murder). Anyways, this elaborates things and makes the detective (who woke up with a hunch that Chris was the one) look like a dreamer, setting Chris free and intertwining Allen's famous getting away endings with the movie itself. Great stuff. Also, Meyers turns in a spectacular performance, one that makes a movie and takes it to great heights. Johanson isn't quite so, but is good as the actress, with personality and a drive, unlike Hayley Atwell in Cassandra's Dream, which really is eerily similar. Anyways, the tennis theme and the double entendres set this movie apart. Bottom line: Allen may be known for such movies as Annie Hall and Manhattan, but this one is really up there. Game, set, and match. A

The Smoking Guns: Cassandra's Dream

Woody Allen is a great director, and has been for over 30 years. He has made many great movies, including Annie Hall, Manhattan, Match Point, and Scoop (which may not have been great, but was extremely enjoyable). This movie is not a great film. It is not a good film. It is a decent film. And it seemed like Allen was rushing to keep his once-a-year movie status. This one is a murder mystery, just like his last few films, except you know who the murderers are, and you are given time to relate with them. Terry (Colin Farrell) is a former soccer star who is now working as a mechanic. He's a really, really nice guy, and he has a big conscience. He drinks, gambles, smokes, and pops pills, though, but he's nice. His mother, though, thinks he doesn't have a conscience. That might be because he gets in a heck of a lot of debt. But she's wrong. His budding businessman brother, Ian (Ewan McGregor), is a "nice guy". He's a nice guy if you don't count him cheating on his girlfriend with an "good" actress (Hayley Atwell), always showing up late for work at his father's restaurant, and damaging one of the cars from Terry's auto shop. Anyways, "bad" Terry gets 90,000 pounds in debt during a card game, and the two turn to Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), who is a prince who knows the ropes of the world. But Uncle Howie is a little on the shady side, and he wants the two brothers to take out a guy on his board (Philip Davis) because some testimony he's gonna make will potentially jail Howard. So the two contemplate how they will murder the businessman and Terry feels bad that he will have to play contact killer. So somehow our good friend Ian (who's pretty much a senseless killer at heart) talks Terry into the job, and the two pull it off on the side streets of London. Then, Terry falls into utter depression and his girlfriend Kate (Sally Hawkins) tries to help him, but he just feels like crap about it. Ian is happy, though, because the man he calls Uncle helps him out with a big business deal in LA and gives Ian's girlfriend (who is a terrible actress) a potential hookup with a director. I suggest you stop reading if you actually decide to waste enough time watching this movie and be "surprised." So officially: SPOILER ALERT! Ian must take out Terry. And in the most predictable scene in the movie, Ian is gonna poison Terry, has a "conscience" finally (he decides to fist fight with Terry, not poison him), and Terry accidentally kills Ian and takes his own life (the latter mentioned, not shown). Anyways, this plot is too predictable and is not up to the level of Allen's other films. Now, to acting and technicalities: this film proves that Farrell can be a much better actor than McGregor, though I thought I saw McGregor mouthing a couple of lines to Farrell. McGregor was probably cheating himself. Take, for example, the one scene between Wilkinson and McGregor when they are contemplating the murder of Ian's brother. McGregor seems to be staring at something, because his eyes look like they're reading and the same camera angle is used repeatedly. It may even be possible that Wilkinson's lines and McGregor's lines were shot separately. But I'm being picky. I guess it's not that bad. Now too the supporting acting: Atwell is okay, but Wilkinson is pretty good (not good enough, though). Who is the best? Sally Hawkins, as Terry's girl, but she gets not much screen time. Bottom line: Scoop was good, smart, and worthwhile. This movie is barely passible, not very smart, and not worth the price of admission or, really, the price of a rental. C

Note: Having read a story ("Nanny Dearest") in Woody Allen's new story collection Mere Anarchy, I had to wonder whether one influenced the other. If it was literature to cinema, then that's a double whammy for Allen.