Manhattan Murder Mystery
Tags: comedy, mystery, murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Larry Lipton (Woody Allen) and his wife Carol (Diane Keaton), both in their late forties, come back from a hockey game to their apartment in Manhattan, and, in the elevator, they meet their next-door neighbors Paul (Jerry Adler) and Lilian (Lynn Cohen) House, who are both in their sixties, and whom they actually hardly know. Carol and Lilian discover they go to the same gym club, and Lilian invites Larry and Carol for a drink in her apartment. We learn that Larry work in the publishing business, and that Paul owns an old cinema, which is being redone. Carol doesn't work but she would like to open a restaurant. Even though they have been married twenty-eight years, Paul and Lilian don't have any children, but Larry and Carol have a son, who is away in college.The next night, Larry and Carol go to a movie theater with their friends Sy (Ron Rifkin) and Marilyn (Joy Behar), to watch Billy Wilder's «Double Indemnity». When they come back home, they find the Houses' door open and a crowd of neighbors gathered around the door. Lilian has just died from a heart attack. Larry and Carol are surprised by this death because Lilian seemed so healthy.A couple of days later, on their way to the Met, Larry and Carol meets Paul in the street and Carol finds Paul's cheerfulness slightly suspicious. Later in the evening, in a restaurant, she talks about it with their friends Ted (Alan Alda), Sy and Marilyn. Ted is just divorced, and Larry thinks he is in love with Carol. Carol explains that Lilian House didn't seem to have a heart condition. And Ted says that Paul could have killed her to run off with his «tootsie». But Larry is very doubtful about it, and just thinks that Paul is a strong guy, who tries to hide his true feelings.Knowing he likes sweet food, Carol makes floating islands for Paul and bring them to him. While Paul and Larry are talking in the living-room, Carol is making coffee in the kitchen and she finds a funerary urn hidden in a cupboard, seeming to refute Paul's claim that Lilian was buried. Carol becomes even more suspicious later in the night after hearing Paul leave his apartment at 1:00 a.m. She thinks that he left to dispose of the urn, but Larry tells Carol she's «inventing a mystery.»Knowing that Paul is away, Carol steals a spare key from Jack (William Addy), the super, and sneaks into Paul's apartment. The urn is missing, but she finds two plane tickets to Paris and a reservation for a Paris hotel for Paul and a woman named Helen Moss. From Paul's apartment, she calls Ted to tell him about it, but Paul unexpectedly returns, and Carol hides under the bed. She overhears a telephone conversation between Paul, calling himself Tom, and a woman whom she supposes to be Helen Moss. After Paul's departure, she leaves the apartment but realizes later that she left her eyeglasses in Paul's apartment. When she tells Larry what she's done, he is furious about it.Carol makes a chocolate mousse and brings it to Paul so that she can retrieve her glasses, but Paul finds them first, causing Larry and Carol to try awkwardly to explain why the eyeglasses were under his bed.Ted finds out where Helen Moss lives. He and Carol sit in his car outside her apartment and when she comes out, they follow her to the old cinema theatre that Paul owns. They hide inside the theatre and find out that Helen Moss (Melanie Norris) is a young, beautiful actress looking for a job. While eavesdropping on Paul and Helen, they hear the couple talking about the money they're going to get from selling the theater. Paul and Helen are interrupted by the arrival of Gladys Dalton (Marge Redmond), Paul's only assistant, who is a middle-aged woman walking with a cane.In the middle of the night, while Paul is away, Carol goes back in his apartment, taking a very frightened Larry along with her. She presses the «last number dialed» button on the telephone and someone named «Waldron» answers the phone. Larry inadvertently breaks a statuette in the bedroom, and picking up the debris, Carol finds a suspicious pair of gloves.Going out of the restaurant were they have been celebrating their son (Zack Braff) Nick's birthday, Larry and Carol meet Marcia Fox (Anjelica Huston), an author and a client of Larry. When Marcia is gone, Larry explains to Carol that he wants to «fix» Marcia with Ted, but Carol doubts it would work.Later, Carol meets Ted in a lounge for a wine-tasting party. Ted drinks a bit too much wine and confess to Carol he is in love with her. He goes away and Carol remains seated near the window, looking absently at the street, when, in a bus, she sees a woman that looks very much like the deceased Lilian House. When, back home, she tells Larry about it, Larry answers that she had certainly drunk too much wine. To please Carol, he even suggests that Lilian could have a twin.Next day, Carol goes back, with Ted, to the place where she saw the bus. Ted has been investigating and found that Lilian had a sister and a brother, but no twin. A bit further down on the street, they find a «Hotel Waldron», «Waldron» being the name Carol was given when she called the «Last Number Dialed» on Paul's telephone. Ted calls the hotel from a pay-phone, and finds there is no Mrs House and no Miss Moss staying at the hotel.Meanwhile, in a empty restaurant, Marcia is giving Larry a poker lesson. While playing, Larry tells Marcia about his feeling that Carol is having an affair with Ted. Marcia tells him he should try to involve himself in Carol's investigation despite having denounced it as foolishness.So Larry goes along with Carol to spy on the Waldron Hotel from their car and they see Lilian House entering the hotel. They question the hotel clerk (Aida Turturro) and find that Lilian is staying there under a false name. On the pretense of giving her a birthday present, they go to her room and find her dead on the floor. They rush out of the hotel and call the police, but when, a bit later, the police eventually search the room, they don't find anyone in the room, not even a dead body. Nevertheless, one of the policeman gives his business card to Larry.Much later in the evening, Larry and Carol come back to the street near the hotel and, from the street, they see a light in Lilian's room. Using the business card the police officer gave him, Larry pretends to be a policeman. The night clerk (Yanni Sfinias), who has never seen them before, let them go into Lilian's room, which they start searching for clues. And they find Lilian's wedding ring. While leaving the hotel, they get stuck in the elevator, triggering Larry's severe claustrophobia. Carol opens the emergency exit panel to escape and finds Lilian's body hidden on the roof of the elevator cabin. The lights go out, and the elevator rides down to the basement. When they exit in the back street behind the hotel, they see Paul putting a wrapped body in the trunk of his car.Carol and Larry follow him out of the city to a junk yard. Paul dumps Lilian's body on a pile of scrap metal, and it is dropped into a melting furnace with the metal. Larry and Carol are helpless and the evidence of murder is destroyed.They come back home, and as they reach their building, they see Paul coming out of it, walking slowly because he is accompanied by Gladys Dalton. He says they've been watching Madame Bovary and she confirms his alibi.Larry and Carol know that Ted is having diner with Marcia in a restaurant called Vincent's and they decide to meet them there. The four of them discuss the mystery and try to solve it. Larry remembers that, when they came home, the night of Lilian's death, the body was already covered with a sheet and they never actually saw it. Carol is also sure it was Paul they saw cremating his wife's body in the junk yard. Marcia thinks that Paul has committed the perfect murder. And she explains it :The night of the murder, they had a guest, who looked a bit like Lilian, and this guest had a heart attack. After her death, Lilian dressed her with her own clothes, and then hid somewhere in the apartment, while Paul was waiting for the doctor. When the doctor and the paramedics were gone with the body, Lilian went to the Waldron hotel under a false name. But Paul had been cheating on his wife with Helen Moss for a long time, and he decided to double-cross her and kill her, taking her share of the profits. Gladys Dalton is in love with Paul and she lied both to the police about Paul being working with her while he was killing his wife in the hotel, and to Larry and Carol about Paul watching Madame Bovary with her while he was cremating his wife in the junk yard.Carol gets a bit jealous of Marcia getting all the attention from both Larry and Ted, because of her brilliant explanation of the mystery, so acrimoniously she says Marcia has no proof about Paul being the murderer. But Marcia answers she has a plan to make Paul confess the murder.Ted owns a theater and Marcia, Larry, Carol, Ted, Sy and Marilyn use it to stage a fake audition, to which they ask Helen Moss to come. They tape-record the whole audition, and then Sy edits the tape, changing the sentences Helen said to fit in the fake dialogue they need to trap Paul. To be sure Helen won't be with Paul when they call him, Ted meets Helen in a bar to talk to her about the stage play he supposedly wants her to be part of.Meanwhile in Sy and Marilyn's apartment, Carol, Larry, Sy and Marilyn each have a small tape machine which they play in turn to give Paul, whom they are calling, the impression that he is actually getting a call from Helen. Helen's faked call suggests that «his neighbors» have his wife's body and that they want $200,000 for it. Either he pays them or he kills them. Marcia believes that Paul will try to kill them, and the police can then catch him in the attempt.After the call, Paul meets Gladys outside his office in the movie theatre. Seeing him worried, she tells him she is always available if he needs help, but he gets mad at her and tells her to stop interfering with his business.Meanwhile, in the street outside Sy and Marilyn's building, Carol is getting mad at Larry, whom she accuses of being in love with Marcia. She eventually tells him she feels like being alone for a while and she walks away.A bit later, as scheduled by Marcia, Larry calls Paul from a pay phone, telling him he has a «package» that is going to cost him $200,000. But what he doesn't know is that Paul has kidnapped Carol. And Paul answers that he also has a package for him, and, to prove it, he gets Carol on the phone. He then asks Paul to bring Lilian's body to the movie theater.Larry goes to the theater with a dummy in the trunk of his car. When he sees it, Paul gets mad and the two men start fighting on the parking lot of the theatre, but Larry breaks away from Paul and rushes into the theatre. He starts searching for Carol, but becomes disoriented by an array of mirrors behind the theater screen, mirrors which are reflecting the movie being played (Orson Welles's «The Lady from Shanghai»). Paul stalks him with his gun in hand, but he is shot by Gladys, who doesn't want Paul to drop her for Helen. Meanwhile, Larry rescues Carol and they call the police. They're both in love with each other again.Later, Marcia explains to Ted what exactly happened. The dead body in the apartment was Lilian's rich sister, who bore a strong resemblance with Lilian. The sister had a heart attack while having dinner with them, and the Houses took advantage of the situation. Lilian ran away from the apartment to hide at the hotel Waldron under a false name while Paul was showing the doctor his dead «wife». Pretending to be her sister, Lilian changed her sister's will naming Lilian and Paul as her sole beneficiaries. But Paul double-crossed her, killed her and cremated her, so he could run off with Helen. Gladys covered for him, because she was in love with him, but without knowing he actually was a murderer.Marcia and Ted are starting a romantic relation, and Larry and Carol are acting as a couple of young lovers !

Review: With an all star fantastic cast; Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston and Jerry Adler.The reunion of Keaton and Allen together was such a delight, the chemistry between Allen and Keaton, is truly top-notch, remind me of Annie Hall.(Diane Keatons role where actually intended for Mia Farrow, but as most of you know Woody Allen was going through his off-screen scandal at the time..).
Whit Manhattan Murder Mystery Allen also reunites with writer Marshall Brickman, they wrote Annie Hall and Manhattan together, Like those films, this one contains some very funny one-liners.Manhattan Murder Mystery is one of Woody Allen's most wonderful movies.
Couple Larry and Carol Lipton (Woody Allen and Diane Keaton) get involved with a complicated murder (they think) when their next door neighbor's wife dies suddenly.
He plays Larry Lipton, a New York City book editor, whose wife Carol (Diane Keaton) becomes convinced that one of their apartment neighbors is a murderer.
When you combine this naturalistic style of talk with terrific performances by Allen, Keaton, Alda, and several other actors, the time flies by, and you're sorry when the film ends.The murder "mystery" element isn't really believable.
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)This movie almost defines delightful--at least for people who already like Woody Allen.
It helps (a lot) that we have the reuniting of Allen with Diane Keaton, and it's a nice breeze in the room to have both Alan Alda at his ordinary guy best and Angelica Huston as a true New Yorker brimming with confidence and savvy.
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) Dir: Woody Allen Supposedly Miss Keaton (never married by the way) only did this film as a favor to Mr. Allen who was enduring some rather unsavory press at the time concerning his breakup with actress Mia Farrow and his ensuing love affair with Miss Farrow's adopted teenage daughter.
Wonderful creative (and not only) relationship between Woody Allen and Diane Keaton has resulted in such movies as "Bananas" (1971), "Sleeper" (1973), "Love and Death" (1975), "Annie Hall" (1977), "Interiors" (1978), "Manhattan" (1979), "Radio Days" (1987), "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993), and has brought them both well-deserved fame and Oscars.Made 20 years ago, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" could be symbolical final chapter of imaginary Manhattan trilogy that would also include "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan", and it would give (among many more great things) a chance to happy ever after to Woody's and Diane's "neurotic romance".
The reunion of Keaton and Allen as a married couple, Larry and Carol Lipton, trying to figure out if their new next door neighbor has committed murder of his wife is their last film together, and IMO, the funniest.
For me, Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) is the most delightful and enjoyable of all Allen's films and I never laugh as much and hard as when I re-watch this comedy/whodunit.
It is so clever and funny that I would take it with me to any deserted island, and if I felt lonely and down, I'd watch the scene in the hotel's lift, and the Allen's face when he delivers one of his funniest lines ever, "Claustrophobia and a dead body - this is a neurotic's jackpot!" I believe Manhattan Murder Mystery has more witty and hilarious dialogs and one-liners than any of Allen's films, and I enjoy every one of them.
In Manhattan, Carol (Diane Keaton) and her husband Larry Lipton (Woody Allen) are coming home late night when they meet their next door neighbors Lillian (Lynn Cohen) and Paul House (Jerry Adler) in the elevator.
If the reader wants to spend 104 minutes laughing, watch "Manhattan Murder Mystery" since this film is funny even for those that are not fans of Woody Allen.
After the mature and gritty work of "Husbands and Wives" (1992), Allen returns to what can be described as an amalgamation of his early "funny" movies and the moral ethics of his 80's work like "Crimes and Misdeameanors" (1989) and "Hannah and her Sisters" (1986)."Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993) re-teams Allen and Keaton, and also uses two cast members from "Crimes and Misdeameanors", Alan Alda and Angelica Huston.
By comparison of some of his previous work, including Husbands and Wives and Crimes and Misdemeanors, this is a very breezy and light-hearted farce that has great fun within the genre of films such as Rear Window and The Thin Man. Woody Allen writes and directs with such ease and relaxation and actors Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, and Angelica Huston so perfectly fit the mold he creates that it is simple enough to engage instantly with these characters and follow them as they interact.It must be said here that the actual murder plot is somewhat predictable and not very original.
Looking at this from a more comedic angle than his previous works, this is one of the funniest Woody Allen movies I have yet to see, surpassing even the heavily comedic undertones of works such as Midnight in Paris and Whatever Works.Allen rounds up Diane Keaton again in the leading female role, perfectly replicating the kind of atmosphere he created in Annie Hall, one of his first films to be recognized by even the Academy as a significant achievement in dramatic filmmaking.
After 20 years of marriage, and with one son in college, Larry (Woody Allen) and Carol Lipton (Diane Keaton) try to accommodate with each other's interests, and from the very first hilarious exchanges, we get the point on how dramatically opposed they happen to be.
After, "Husbands and Wives", a powerful social commentary about marital relationships and an opportunity for Woody Allen to exorcise all the demons resulting from the custody battle with Mia Farrow, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" feels like a moment of pure refreshment.
Woody Allen said "Mia likes to do funny things, but she's not as broad a comedian as Diane is", although I don't approve the manner but I have to agree with the director, Mia Farrow is fine but as far as comedy is concerned, Diane Keaton has that little sparkle that makes all the difference.
Yes, we have the New York middle-class lifestyle, the intellectual discussions with the couples of friends, Allen's neurotic personality ("a dead body and claustrophobia, a neurotic's jackpot"), his distaste for Wagner, a compositor who gives him the "urge to invade Poland" and the whole romantic twists and commentaries on men and women's relationships, all the ingredients for a great Allen's film are here but Diane Keaton is the icing on the cake.And believe me, she's for more than three quarters in what make "Manhattan Murder Mystery" such a delicious pastry, reminding us how a great chemistry she always had with Woody Allen, hell, even when they argue, they're hilarious..
The movie is based about a happily married couple (Larry (Woody Allen) and Carol Lipton (Diane Keaton)) in their mid-ages settled in Manhattan.
I liked "Manhattan Murder Mystery" a lot, The performances of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton as a mature married couple investigating their neighbor about the possibility that he has murdered his wife is very funny.
I think this movie deserves 7.5 stars.There is a lot of chemistry between the leading and the supporting cast, Anjelica Huston looks so cool as the clever writer with a lot of world, Alan Alda is good too like the good friend of Diane Keaton who supports her in resolving the mystery about the possible murder, and who loves her.
I love his humour and his ability to act and so I was delighted to see him in a role that catered for his style of acting and humour, but also showed a more mature and serious side to his acting.I watched this movie not knowing what to expect, except that the movie's lead stars (Woody and Diane Keaton) had been given very good reviews about their part in this film.
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton teamed up again for "Manhattan Murder Mystery" in 1993 and proved once more that they are a great match.
She confides in her divorced friend Ted (Alan Alda) and before you know it, she's snooping around Mr. House's apartment, following him and doing stakeouts with Ted.This is a wonderful comedy that has a very improvisational feel and two people who act and talk just like a married couple - except funnier because Woody's the husband.
As a lonely divorcée, Alda gives a wonderful performance, and Angelica Huston as a beautiful, savvy, tough poker-playing writer is perfection.Woody Allen has made some heavy-duty films, comedies, and along the way, he's had a few misfires.
He relaxes our attention to aesthetics, and so we feel that we're watching a light, breezy little geriatric romantic comedy.Indeed, a central theme of the movie seems to be indifference, which tends to come with age when people seem to unfussily accept that there are many things they've never gotten to do and probably never will, and in effect some, like Woody's character, seem to see life's reality as a place where nothing exciting happens so there's no reason to feel dejected because there's no point of comparison to make between yesterday and today.
We could be living next to a murderer," Carol Lipton (Diane Keaton) emphasizes to her doubtful husband, Larry (Woody Allen).
Larry isn't so convinced: "New York is a melting pot: I'm used to it!" When put in the situation of having a murderer live next door, there are two kinds of people: there are (1) the bored who decide their life could use a little fluffer, deciding to solve the mystery themselves, like a modern day Miss Marple, or (2) the fearful who figure it would be best to mind their own business and let karma stop by sometime in the future.Trouble is, Carol is of the first category, Larry of the second.
Is it the contagiously humorous repartee between Allen and Keaton (in their first film together since 1979's "Manhattan"), the obvious homages to film noir(you can't beat "The Lady from Shanghai" playfulness of the ending) and Agatha Christie, the likable supporting performances from Alan Alda (the likable best friend type) and Anjelica Huston (the superiorly cool female figure), the New York setting?
As someone who has really liked or loved most of what she's seen of Woody Allen's filmography(15 left to watch as of now)- he has done some disappointments but none to me have been terrible or unwatchable, more uneven than anything else-, Manhattan Murder Mystery is up there with his best, not quite in his top 5 but most definitely in the top 10.
With the hand-held camera, no narration, no breaking of the fourth wall and an all around more realistic feel, Manhattan Murder Mystery is a clear follow-up for Husbands and Wives, but transferring that great film's style into a semi-comedic thriller parody doesn't work that well, mainly because Allen's character and his neurotic sarcasm are completely out of place - part of the point, of course, but it gets tiring much too often.
Diane Keaton is the film's saving grace - it's great to see her work with Allen again for the first time since the masterpiece Manhattan - and she's at her very best, as is Anjelica Huston in a smaller but unforgettable part.
Allen and Diane Keaton, still the best of his many leading ladies, play an upper class, snooty New York couple who go sleuthing when the wife suspects their next-door neighbor of murder.
Even though the main characters, Larry and Carol, take on the task of resolving the case of a suspected murder by their neighbor, the film never quite feels like a crime movie.
It's good to see Woody Allen make a film which has nothing to do with relationships, although he does questioned Diane Keaton about her feelings for his friend half of the time.
With Carol spending more time with their friend Ted on the investigation, Larry reluctantly begins to help her.When Allen made Annie Hall he had originally planned to write an element of a murder mystery into the story.
Starring, in my opinion, Woody's best screen partner Diane Keaton, as well as another pair of repeat co-stars, Alan Alda and Anjelica Huston, Manhattan Murder Mystery is a zesty look at the lives of a middle aged couple who suddenly become convinced that a neighbor in their New York City apartment building has murdered his wife.
Manhattan Murder Mystery is so much more than a "silly plot" in a "throw away" Woody Allen film, but rather, another brilliant attempt at decoding the human condition we are all born into by one of America's best filmmakers.Larry Lipton (Woody Allen) and Carol Lipton (Diane Keaton) are a middle-aged couple in New York, tasked with the ever familiar plight of learning each other once again after becoming empty-nesters.
Diane Keaton and Woody Allen as a married couple are like a pair of old slippers...warm, inviting and comfortable.They have this wonderful energy between them and Dianne is so enthusiastic that she makes you want to go along on this 'murder mystery' with them.
I've not actually seen many Woody Allen movies, the only other I've seen is 'Small Time Crooks' (2000) both are equally enjoyable, but both run out of steam well before the end, as if Allen can't be bothered and moves on to something else, having said that though 'Manhattan Murder Mystery' is for the most part an incredibly enjoyable old-timey sort of film,Woody Allen teams up again with Former Girlfriend Diane Keaton as they play husband & wife Larry & Carol Lypton a fairly normal middle aged New York Couple who are now alone as their son (Scrubbs' Zack Braff in a blink and you'll miss him part) goes off to college.
With having found myself over the last few months unwittingly putting films of Woody Allen right at the back of the line of my "must watch" pile of movies,I decided shortly after finding out that a poll for the best films of 1993 was being held on IMDb's Classic Film board,that I would instantly put Woody Allen's 1993 right at the front,so that I could at last uncover the mysterious Manhattan murder.The plot:Returning to their apartment building after watching a game of hookey, husband and wife Larry and Carol Lipton run into near by residents,and fellow husband and wife,Paul and Lilian House.Making small talk with Paul and Lilian as they find themselves in the building's elevator with them,Larry and Carol are caught by surprise when Paul and Lilian suddenly invite them round for a late night coffee.Ignoring her husbands less then subtle signs of annoyance,Carol accepts the House's kind offer.As Larry gets bored out of existence by Paul showing him all of his stamp collection,Carol finds every minute that she spends with Lilian to be a true joy,who along with having a similar craving that Carol has for French deserts,is also very keen on her at- home gym,which leads to Carol greatly admiring Lilian,due to how amazingly fit and healthy she looks.The next night:Coming back from a night spent at the opera,Carol and Paul's fun night is stopped in its tracks,when they are given the tragic news the earlier that night,Lilian House had died of a heart attack.Feeling shaken over not just the death of her friend,but also the very odd,calm manner that Paul seemed to be in,Carol pushes Larry's reasoning that Paul is just grieving in a "different" manner right to the side,and begins to wonder if the thing that killed Lilian House was really a heart attack,or something much more sinister?...View on the film:Picking up a sub-plot that was originally meant for the duo's 1977 movie Annie Hall that got cut from the script due to feeling out of place with the rest of the plot,the screenplay by Marshall Brickman and co- writer/actor and director auteur Woody Allen impressively keep the movie away from every feeling dusty by cleverly balancing a tightly-coiled, surprisingly thrilling murder-mystery with characters like Carol Lipton,who will go to increasingly insane leginths to prove that their "hunch" is correct.Shooting the film in a "floating", non-shaky Cam style,Allen gives the movie a wonderful fresh atmosphere,with the scenes that Larry and Carol share together having an expert,improve-like feel about them,which helps to give each of Allen's and Brickman's lines (with "I cant listen to that much Wagner ya know.I start to get the urge to invade to conquer Poland!",being a particularly hilarious highlight) a real sharpness.Along with the crisp one-liners,Allen also gives the movie some terrific sly nods to Film Noir,from going to see Double Imdematey at a cinema,to an extremely stylish ending ,that has strong shades of 1947 Orson Welles Film Noir The Lady from Shanghai.Reuniting for the first time since 1979,Woody Allen and Diane Keaton both give strong performance's which set out to prove,that despite not appear on screen together for more than 10 years,neither of them has lost the other ones rhythm.Bounceing off a wonderfully agitated Allen,who would much rather be in bed then going round amateur sleuthing,Keaton shows Carol to be someone with an electrifying,and risky personality,who cant resits keeping away from solving the Manhattan murder mystery..
As events unfold however, Carol begins to suspect foul play and enlisting friend Ted (Alan Alda), she sets out to solve the case.Actually dating for a long time, there's little surprise to see so much chemistry between Woody Allen and Diane Keaton.
Watching a Woody Allen film is always rewarding, and this one has the advantage of his re-casting with Diane Keaton, as well as Alan Alda.
This is one of Woody Allen's later comedies that I enjoy much more than his earlier, more highly acclaimed "Annie Hall." For one thing, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" has plot.
Along with Woody and his usual female lead, Diane Keaton (as wife, Carol), this film has some nice cast additions in Alan Alda as Ted, Anjelica Huston as Marcia and others.
Yes, there was the murder mystery of course, but also the relationship and chemistry between the main characters (Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Anjelica Houston).