Underrated Woody Gem

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2004)

As a huge Woody Allen fan, I was delighted and surprised by this film. I have scarcely heard anyone mention it, but for my money it is the single most comically dense of all of Woody's films. There are so many truly impressive/hilarious/memorable one-liners that I'm amazed people don't quote this movie left and right. The setting, costumes, accents all add to the hilarity of the film--truly reminiscent of a Marx Brothers romp. Really outstanding among his pre-Annie Hall films. Only rivaled by Bananas in my opinion for simple laugh value.
Unlike any other of his films, this deals with his "deep" questions of death/metaphysics in an unflaggingly light and comical fashion. For instance:
Sonja: But judgment of any system or a priori relation of phenomena exists in any rational or metaphysical or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstracted empirical concept such as being or to be or to occur in the thing itself or of the thing itself.
Boris: Yeah, I've said that many times.
Not Woody's "best" film (see Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors), but perhaps his most laugh-filled. Satisfying throughout. I give it a 9/10.