A great woody flick, one of his better ones

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2005)

This Woody Allen flick is by far the funniest of his that I have seen thus far, although i don't think its as good as a film as Annie Hall or The Purple Rose of Cairo, both which I consider masterpieces of Woody's, Love and death is still a brilliant film. The story of Boris Grushenko (Allen), a Russian who is caught up in the invasion of the french lead by Napoleon (Tolkan). Meanwhile he also loves Sonja (Keaton), a girl who has confusions of her own. The film is written brilliantly, great dialogues and wit, its truly offbeat humor, the funniest from Woody. Although his direction here is a bit weird, and at times the plot is not believable at all and obviously satirical, the performances and great dialogues make it work. It was a bit redundant and had a bit too much slapstick at times but still enjoyable. Watching this film, truly had me laughing throughout. Woody was perfect in his role, probably my favorite acting from him along with his acting in Annie Hall. Diane Keaton was also great here, not as good as her other work in this decade (GF, GF2 and Annie Hall), however still great here. James Tolkan was also great as Napoleon. 9/10 #91 on list of all time favorite films