Bo-o-o-o-o-o-ring

Rating: 4/10 (10 December 2004)

Boring. Not very good. Before I drown in indignant e-mails from Allen fans, let me make a few comments. The aforementioned Allen fans always smugly say that those who don't rave over Allen's films are Philistines who just "don't get it." Well, I do get it. It just isn't very funny. Yeah, I caught the references to Tolstoy, and was mildly amused by the riff working in all of the titles of Dosteyevsky's books, and the mention of Raskolnikov. Allen's humor is wry and absurdist, and was something different when he first hit the scene. But it is all the same. Allen always plays Allen, basing everything on his New York, Jewish angst. And of course his vanity knows no bounds, in spite of this persona. Seeing nothing wrong with porking his (more or less) stepdaughter is Exhibit A on this. Unless you are a fan of Allen, or want to seem to be, skip this one.