A Skeptics Guide to Woody Allen

I am no fool (most of the time). I am completely aware that Woody Allen is not for everyone. There could be much said about his shortcomings on and off the screen. At times, even bringing up his name elicits strong resentment and condemnation from people who don't agree with his personal life, most notably his relationship with Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn. Some people plain just don't like him, and there are a couple of films that give them some good material to work with. Here's a few that I believe would qualify as a skeptics ammunition:


#5- Melinda and Melinda (2004)- This interesting double take on a woman falling apart showcases the differences/similarities between a comedy and a tragedy. This has all the right ingredients to make it a successful movie (big names like Will Ferrell and Amanda Peet, an intriguining intellectual storyline, etc) but it lacked something big-time...the presence of Woody Allen. This was one of the first films in a while that didn't have Woody playing a significant role and it suffered greatly for it.
Rating: C





#4- A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)- Don't get me wrong, this isn't an aweful movie, it's just not that great either. If there's one thing that can happen when an artist is so prolific is that the end up churning out some misses in between the big hits (see Charles Bukowski and Ryan Adams). It suffers from being completely unessential.
Rating: C








#3- September (1987)- As always, there are those who would praise this Chekovian drama of Woody's, but for some reason I think it was just kind of tedious and dim-witted. It features two of Woody's leading ladies with Mia Farrow and Dianne Wiest, but even they fail to bring this sob-fest above any real lucidity.
Rating: C-








#2- Hollywood Ending (2002)- There was a period of time when it seemed that all hope was lost for Mr. Allen. He had a habit of putting out half-hearted slop like this ensemble piece. It's pretty sad when a movies only redeeming quality is the fact that it featured Kelly Kapowski from Saved By the Bell. Not worth watching...
Rating: D+








#1- The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)- Notice how 3 of these films happened within 3 years of each other? This film might not actually be the worst of all of Woody's films, but the simple fact that it still stands to be his most expensive film ever and the fact that it features Dan Akroyd and still isn't entertaining leaves it being the biggest offender. I'd like to personally thank Woody for the fact that he stopped making movies this boring.
Rating: D+