Pretty Good

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Set in 20s New York and featuring many great Gershwin songs, Woody Allen, without himself appearing, tells the story of a young aspiring playwright and a bunch of rather pretentious actors, contriving to put on a play in an old Broadway theatre. There is much fun to be had with the notion of man vs man the artist and indeed art and life itself and the whole is very funny with excellent performances. Dianne West is great as the old dame who one way or another will have her way and Jennifer Tilly fantastic as the gangster's moll, would be actress. Tracy Ullman is surely at her very best and least annoying and if John Cusack struggles here and there it must be because he has the unenviable task of playing Allen. Chazz Palminteri's role is pivotal as he gradually insinuates himself into centre stage, without any interruption to his extremely violent day job, of course. Its a few years since I last saw this and I had forgotten how much location shooting there is which ensures the film does not become bogged down within the admittedly attractive theatrical setting.

In New York in 1928, a struggling playwright (John Cusack) is forced to cast a mobster's talentless girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) in his latest drama in order to get it produced. The film received numerous Oscar nominations. Just in the acting category, we have: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Chazz Palminteri. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Jennifer Tilly. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Dianne Wiest. Interestingly, Wiest won. Personally, I would have given the award to Tilly between the two of them.Although I love Woody Allen and I tend to enjoy mob stories (writing mob history is how I bay my bills), this somehow is not one of my favorite Woody tales. I think it is the lack of a real intellectual undercurrent. There is some talk of "the art and the artist" and even Nietzsche gets tossed around a bit, but this seems a bit light. Of course, when he is pumping out a movie a year for 50 years, I suppose not every one is going to be a philosophical gem.

Not among Woody Allen's top 5 best films but of the films I've seen of his so far- 36 altogether- Bullets Over Broadway's in the top 10. The period detail looks absolutely incredible and the whole film is photography beautifully, everything just looks so glitzy and glamorous without being too idealised. Tilly's costumes are also to die for. The wonderful score, somewhat a mix of jazz and Broadway, adds a huge amount to the period, the music itself is catchy penned by greats like George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter and the vocals are similarly great. Allen gives some of his best direction in Bullets Over Broadway and the screenplay is sheer brilliance, a vast majority of the lines are hilarious and intelligent(Allen in his films has a lot to say about his subjects and on the most part knows how to say it) in a way that is distinctive of Allen's style and there are some quotable ones too. Love also that the comedy has a light-hearted, biting and whimsical touch without going overboard in either area, and Allen to not make things too one-note includes a seriousness that is well pitched and balanced and an ironic ending that rounds things off nicely. The story goes at a brisk pace and the rehearsal and theatre scenes are incredibly entertaining. A great job is also done with how the characters are written and expanded, though it is a case of the supporting characters being more memorable than the leading one with Helen Sinclair and Cheech especially so. The ensemble performances are great, John Cusack has a difficult task playing Allen's younger alter ego and while you don't quite shake off the feeling that Allen himself would have been better in the role(though you can understand why he didn't) Cusack is actually one of the best actors that have attempted to play Allen's younger alter ego along with Will Ferrell in Melinda and Melinda and Seth Green in Radio Days, something that inevitably has had mixed results(as seen with Jason Biggs in Anything Else and especially Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity). Jennifer Tilly and Joe Viterelli are fine in tailor-made roles, true Tilly is a touch annoying and over-enthusiastic at times but seeing as it's part of the character it's not a problem at all. Jim Broadbent is marvellous and has rarely been more adorable and Mary Louise Parker, Jack Warden and Tracy Ullman provide plenty of humour and heart too. Harvey Fierstein is good and it is interesting to see Rob Reiner in a small role. But the best performances for me were Dianne Wiest, who won an Oscar and deservedly so in a performance that sees Wiest at her comic best(she's never been funnier), and Chazz Palminteri who is menacing, very amusing and sometimes charming, a gangster with a heart and the soul of a poet if you will. Overall, a wonderful film and one of Woody Allen's best of the 90s. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Never underestimate Woody Allen's capability to surprise you. The first act "Bullets Over Broadway" didn't put my expectations very high, until an expected little twist in the middle transformed everything and contributed to one of Woody Allen's most fascinating secondary characters.The film opens in the 1928 Broadway, with one cinematic archetype following another. John Cusack is David Shayne, a young playwright. Convinced of his artistic genius, he's your typical struggling newcomer trying to impose his unique style. Not a revolutionary character, Cusack almost replays some mimics of Allen's neurotic writer, only differing physically, with his tall frame canceled by his constantly hunched demeanor, he's handsome enough to make his sex-appeal believable. Although with such a title as "God of Our Fathers", the line between the very talent he claims to have and a sort of pompous pseudo-intellectual vibe is very thin, but we give him the benefit of the doubt.Anyway, Shayne's manager, played by Jack Warden, finds a generous heart accepting to finance the play. Not your typical patron of art, the man is Valenti, a mobster played by the irreplaceable Joe Viterelli. Theater is not his cup of tea but who cares, he's absolutely in love with Olive, his girlfriend, a dancer as ambitious as she's talentless. With her nasal voice, voluptuous forms and misplaced self-satisfaction, Jennifer Tilly revives the performance of Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont in "Singin' in the Rain", with –I don't think that was even possible- a much more horrible voice. And no one can even say a word against her, all through the rehearsals, she's chaperoned by a bodyguard named Cheech, one of Viterelli's button-man, more at ease with playing craps and disposing of some bodies, than enduring Shayne's intellectual junk.To go on and on with archetypes, Shayne lives with Ellen, his caring girlfriend, played by Mary Louise Parker, but she lacks the flamboyance and charisma of her soon-to-be rival, Helen Sinclair. Sinclair is the obligatory diva, who played so much plays, worked with so many writers (always the best) that all her characters spill over her mannerisms. If Jennifer Tilly is a dead-on Lina Lamont, Dianne Weist Sinclar is a perfect Norma Desmond, an actress so wrapped up in her ego, she oozes a natural commanding presence, when she orders Shayne 'Don't speak' with a voice as low as possible, he knows it's an act, but still, he has no choice but obeying. Both Tilly and Wiest's performance earned them two deserved Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Wiest won). But had the film only relied on these performances and the great roles of Jim Broadbent and Tracey Ullman, the result would have been a charming little comedy, with no impact whatsoever.To give you an idea, there's a moment when Shayne has a drink with Sinclair, she orders two martinis, in fact the two martinis were for her. The gag is cleverly written, it's funny, but coming from Woody Allen, it didn't have that extra little spice I expected, granted the film is magnificently directed, with costumes and art-directing revisiting the roaring twenties with exuberance, there was not much to hook our hearts on. But then, in the middle of one rehearsal, when the actors and Shayne have an argument about the script, Cheech intervenes. The thug who exuded intimidation and street-smart force, suggests a little revision to the play, and guess what, it works. I knew Chazz Palminteri was Oscar-nominated for this role, I thought he would play in the stage, I thought everything except the fact that he would reveal the genius Shayne obviously lacks.Then the movie took off and turned into a clever and insightful commentary about the meaning of being an artist, creating an oeuvre and being so passionate about it that you wouldn't let anything undermine it, anyone interfere with it. It's about the conflict tormenting a man who tries to be an artist, only to be confronted to another who's genuinely an artist, much more a genius. The romantic subplot involving Shayne and Sinclair takes a whole new importance to the story. When Shayne discusses with his friend Sheldon (Rob Reiner) about it, Sheldon makes one of the most unforgettable statement from any Woody Allen's film: "an artist creates his own moral universe". It seems like an alibi to justify the craziest actions committed by an artist, in fact, it echoes the very actions committed by Cheech, out of love and passion for his work, that will push to the extreme the notion of "moral universe". The brilliance of the script is that Cheech' actions illustrate both what he is and what Shayne is not.And again, Woody Allen is able to transcend usual movie archetypes and illustrate through them the deepest torments invading the heart of artists and wannabe artists. Woody Allen shows the gap between those who got the talent, and those who don't, and he's so talented that he's even able to create a great character who realizes that he doesn't have the talent. The ending of "Bullets Over Broadway" is not the apotheosis we expected, but it's not a downer either. Shayne is finally able to realize what counts for him and what doesn't, it's about knowing oneself and acting in consequence. It's about responsibility, and the level of maturity expressed in the ending is so unexpected it does highlight the hidden genius of the script.And as nothing is gratuitous in a great script, first, its greatness relies on a fascinating contradiction, and I'll never forget the thug with writing genius played by Chazz Palminteri. And even a cute inoffensive gag like Olive not remembering what came after Hamlet's "To be…" is a subtle reference to the main conflict of the film.To be an artist or not to be an artist, … to be or not to be, and "Bullets Over Broadway" provides some of the smartest answers to that eternal question.