Question:
I received this R1 disc the other day, which was really a big deal for a long time Allen fanatic like me as it has yet to score a UK theatrical release (heck, neither has his last movie but more on that in a moment).
And it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch as it received lukewarm reviews in the US where it pretty much tanked, and I know that forum member McD considers it to be perhaps the worst film ever made (or one of them anyway)!
Well...I thought it was okay. Not brilliant but all right. There are some very sharp one-liners as ever and the story is quite good but the basic comic idea (a has-been film director lands a great gig -- thanks to his ex-wife -- and goes psychosomatically blind the weekend before shooting begins) is a little strained in the execution. It stretches credulity too far, the result would have been a lot better if the blindness had been reduced in screen time considerably. At 1hr 52m pic is too long anyway, perhaps even half an hour could go (and all of it the blind scenes if I had my way).
My favourite line is when one of the studio execs is reading from a test screening reaction card: "Would you recommend this movie to a friend? -- Only if I was friendly with Hitler."
I think the main problem with Allen's last couple of flicks is that they've been a little bit flat. Not bad, just tired looking in comparison to his earlier classics. But, defensively I also think that this is to be excused as he is now 66 years old and has directed well over 30 pictures since 1969, a fantastic record for a current filmmaker.
The DVD is very good, the cinematography is wonderful & this is well represented on the disc.
Back to his last film The Curse of the Jade Scorpion for anyone who's interested -- a mate of mine who works in exhibition says he got an invite to a press screening for this the other day, it seems UIP have picked up UK distribution rights, after it being in limbo for over a year.
This is weird. I literally finished watching this 5 minutes ago and was going to post a thread here!
I have to say I’m with McD on this. I was literally slack-jawed with astonishment throughout, so appallingly bad was this movie. Where were the jokes? Nearly two hours long and I chuckled maybe twice. Sleepers reduces me to hysterics just thinking about watching it while Allen’s latest exercise in proving he’s still alive is pure cinematic torture. Like the awful dreck Allen’s character in the movie is making, so Hollywood Ending itself mirrors the film within it and the only points I’d be willing to give him would be if this were intentional. Sadly, it is not.
Just like Leonie’s character, did no-one around Allen (other cast members, anyone at Dreamworks) come forward and express doubts over this POS? Even at script stage this must’ve looked like a dud.
Up until now I’ve tried to look past Allen’s predeliction for younger leading women but the casting in this film is just sickening. We‘re supposed to believe his ex-wife from years ago is Leonie?! Was it an arranged marriage when she was ten? Also his current girlfriend in the movie is Debra Messing aka Grace from Will & Grace who like Leonie looks in her early 30s - max. It’s freaking disgusting to see wizened 66 year old Allen leching over women more than half his age. Enough already. Tellingly he also writes himself a scene where a stacked bimbo comes onto him and gets him to feel her up. I’ve finally come around to Mia Farrow’s POV on this topic.
I personally thought Small Time Crooks was OK, Curse of the Jade Scorpion below average but just about watchable (more because of the production design) but Hollywood Ending was dross. It would be remiss of me to close without mentioning the leaden, thumpingly obvious dig that Allen chooses to end the movie with. Childish and petulant it resembles nothing so much as a justification for his poor box-office in the States and is frankly insulting.
On the evidence of this terrible, terrible film Allen should draw a discrete veil over a fine career lest he irretrievably tarnish his reputation forever.
Originally posted by jonathan.e
On the evidence of this terrible, terrible film Allen should draw a discrete veil over a fine career lest he irretrievably tarnish his reputation forever.
I've not seen this film, but I'm curious, is it only the Allen/Soon-Yi Previn-like age differences of he and his leading ladies that is off-putting, or are there genuinely no laughs?
There are 2 laughs, both involving the names of Third Reich figures, the rest is pathetic.
No, this particular Allen movie is actually funny, with self-referential deprecating jokes which I won't spoil. My DVD is on the way. :dork: I'd rate it as good as Bullets over Broadway.
Originally posted by Tiffany Bradford
I've not seen this film, but I'm curious, is it only the Allen/Soon-Yi Previn-like age differences of he and his leading ladies that is off-putting, or are there genuinely no laughs?
It’s that and the fact it’s a laugh-free zone. Literally it looks like someone went through the script and cut out anything that might have been amusing. Additionally it’s a ****** plot - We’re supposed to believe that his ex-wife is willing to not only persuade her studio-boss fiancee to hire him as director (despite the fact he doesn’t want to as Allen’s character has a lousy rep) but also that she would cover up for him and deceive her fiancee over one of the very things she was worried about when considering him for the job. Even on a plot level (and accepting it’s a comedy) the lame set-up just doesn’t convince with characters acting against their own best interests in favour of Allen when his character is not even slightly endearing or pleasant: Just a whiny old man who can’t get over the fact his 30 year old wife left him, a man of nearly 70, for Treat Williams, a good looking young multi-millionaire.
Literally everything about this movie is flawed and you have to question the judgment of actors appearing in it unless they signed on without reading the script. Either way, shame on them.
No way on God’s green earth is this even a tenth the movie Bullets.. is. At least in that Allen had the good grace to not appear and actually take time to construct a tight plot and a zingy script.
The film is an utter disgrace!
The supporting performances are terrible, with little option as they were working from complete drivel. And making gags about how bad the movie is, which Allen does at the end, just added insult to injury. I watched the lot to see how bad it would get, and I still haven't been forgiven for refusing to leave the cinema early. I'd lay into it in more detail but I have psychosomatic amnesia for the two hours I spent watching it.
As for Allen's love interests - well, it's just getting as puke inducing as his own real-life-morally-more-than-suspect relationship. He might not be quite as old as the billionaire who married Anna Nicole Smith - but he's far uglier.
I haven't seen it (and don't plan to), but I was in France when it opened and couldn't help but notice the reviews were generally lousy even there - and given the French attitude towards Allen's work in the past can be summed up in just one simple smiley ( :notworthy ) that's a pretty big deal!
Originally posted by Michael Brooke
I haven't seen it (and don't plan to), but I was in France when it opened and couldn't help but notice the reviews were generally lousy even there - and given the French attitude towards Allen's work in the past can be summed up in just one simple smiley ( :notworthy ) that's a pretty big deal!
Yes and you would find it interesting that in Hollywood Ending Allen refers to his work being liked in France and even decides to move there to take a job offer making a movie produced in France. :p
And it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch as it received lukewarm reviews in the US where it pretty much tanked, and I know that forum member McD considers it to be perhaps the worst film ever made (or one of them anyway)!
Well...I thought it was okay. Not brilliant but all right. There are some very sharp one-liners as ever and the story is quite good but the basic comic idea (a has-been film director lands a great gig -- thanks to his ex-wife -- and goes psychosomatically blind the weekend before shooting begins) is a little strained in the execution. It stretches credulity too far, the result would have been a lot better if the blindness had been reduced in screen time considerably. At 1hr 52m pic is too long anyway, perhaps even half an hour could go (and all of it the blind scenes if I had my way).
My favourite line is when one of the studio execs is reading from a test screening reaction card: "Would you recommend this movie to a friend? -- Only if I was friendly with Hitler."
I think the main problem with Allen's last couple of flicks is that they've been a little bit flat. Not bad, just tired looking in comparison to his earlier classics. But, defensively I also think that this is to be excused as he is now 66 years old and has directed well over 30 pictures since 1969, a fantastic record for a current filmmaker.
The DVD is very good, the cinematography is wonderful & this is well represented on the disc.
Back to his last film The Curse of the Jade Scorpion for anyone who's interested -- a mate of mine who works in exhibition says he got an invite to a press screening for this the other day, it seems UIP have picked up UK distribution rights, after it being in limbo for over a year.
Answers:
This is weird. I literally finished watching this 5 minutes ago and was going to post a thread here!
I have to say I’m with McD on this. I was literally slack-jawed with astonishment throughout, so appallingly bad was this movie. Where were the jokes? Nearly two hours long and I chuckled maybe twice. Sleepers reduces me to hysterics just thinking about watching it while Allen’s latest exercise in proving he’s still alive is pure cinematic torture. Like the awful dreck Allen’s character in the movie is making, so Hollywood Ending itself mirrors the film within it and the only points I’d be willing to give him would be if this were intentional. Sadly, it is not.
Just like Leonie’s character, did no-one around Allen (other cast members, anyone at Dreamworks) come forward and express doubts over this POS? Even at script stage this must’ve looked like a dud.
Up until now I’ve tried to look past Allen’s predeliction for younger leading women but the casting in this film is just sickening. We‘re supposed to believe his ex-wife from years ago is Leonie?! Was it an arranged marriage when she was ten? Also his current girlfriend in the movie is Debra Messing aka Grace from Will & Grace who like Leonie looks in her early 30s - max. It’s freaking disgusting to see wizened 66 year old Allen leching over women more than half his age. Enough already. Tellingly he also writes himself a scene where a stacked bimbo comes onto him and gets him to feel her up. I’ve finally come around to Mia Farrow’s POV on this topic.
I personally thought Small Time Crooks was OK, Curse of the Jade Scorpion below average but just about watchable (more because of the production design) but Hollywood Ending was dross. It would be remiss of me to close without mentioning the leaden, thumpingly obvious dig that Allen chooses to end the movie with. Childish and petulant it resembles nothing so much as a justification for his poor box-office in the States and is frankly insulting.
On the evidence of this terrible, terrible film Allen should draw a discrete veil over a fine career lest he irretrievably tarnish his reputation forever.
Answers:
Originally posted by jonathan.e
On the evidence of this terrible, terrible film Allen should draw a discrete veil over a fine career lest he irretrievably tarnish his reputation forever.
I've not seen this film, but I'm curious, is it only the Allen/Soon-Yi Previn-like age differences of he and his leading ladies that is off-putting, or are there genuinely no laughs?
Answers:
There are 2 laughs, both involving the names of Third Reich figures, the rest is pathetic.
Answers:
No, this particular Allen movie is actually funny, with self-referential deprecating jokes which I won't spoil. My DVD is on the way. :dork: I'd rate it as good as Bullets over Broadway.
Answers:
Originally posted by Tiffany Bradford
I've not seen this film, but I'm curious, is it only the Allen/Soon-Yi Previn-like age differences of he and his leading ladies that is off-putting, or are there genuinely no laughs?
It’s that and the fact it’s a laugh-free zone. Literally it looks like someone went through the script and cut out anything that might have been amusing. Additionally it’s a ****** plot - We’re supposed to believe that his ex-wife is willing to not only persuade her studio-boss fiancee to hire him as director (despite the fact he doesn’t want to as Allen’s character has a lousy rep) but also that she would cover up for him and deceive her fiancee over one of the very things she was worried about when considering him for the job. Even on a plot level (and accepting it’s a comedy) the lame set-up just doesn’t convince with characters acting against their own best interests in favour of Allen when his character is not even slightly endearing or pleasant: Just a whiny old man who can’t get over the fact his 30 year old wife left him, a man of nearly 70, for Treat Williams, a good looking young multi-millionaire.
Literally everything about this movie is flawed and you have to question the judgment of actors appearing in it unless they signed on without reading the script. Either way, shame on them.
No way on God’s green earth is this even a tenth the movie Bullets.. is. At least in that Allen had the good grace to not appear and actually take time to construct a tight plot and a zingy script.
Answers:
The film is an utter disgrace!
The supporting performances are terrible, with little option as they were working from complete drivel. And making gags about how bad the movie is, which Allen does at the end, just added insult to injury. I watched the lot to see how bad it would get, and I still haven't been forgiven for refusing to leave the cinema early. I'd lay into it in more detail but I have psychosomatic amnesia for the two hours I spent watching it.
As for Allen's love interests - well, it's just getting as puke inducing as his own real-life-morally-more-than-suspect relationship. He might not be quite as old as the billionaire who married Anna Nicole Smith - but he's far uglier.
Answers:
I haven't seen it (and don't plan to), but I was in France when it opened and couldn't help but notice the reviews were generally lousy even there - and given the French attitude towards Allen's work in the past can be summed up in just one simple smiley ( :notworthy ) that's a pretty big deal!
Answers:
Originally posted by Michael Brooke
I haven't seen it (and don't plan to), but I was in France when it opened and couldn't help but notice the reviews were generally lousy even there - and given the French attitude towards Allen's work in the past can be summed up in just one simple smiley ( :notworthy ) that's a pretty big deal!
Yes and you would find it interesting that in Hollywood Ending Allen refers to his work being liked in France and even decides to move there to take a job offer making a movie produced in France. :p
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