Manhattan (1979)

Manhattan: Directed by Woody Allen. With Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway. The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend’s mistress.

“I used to hold this film as somewhat of a sacred cow when I first saw it in 1979. I was a proscribed Woody fan andu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ealthough I still like a few of his movies, this is no longer one of them, on recent review.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI recently purchased copies of Manhattan and Annie Hall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI watched the latter first and it charmed my socks off again. One classic scene after another signals the height of Allenu0026#39;s art in this hilarious masterwork. Manhattan is a different story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerhaps my recent viewing of Wild Man Blues has hippedu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eme to what an whining, pampered egomaniac Mr. Allen is.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerhaps itu0026#39;s the irony of his Chaplin-like dalliances with young women that have set me against him. But I now watch Manhattanu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eand see a pathetic, overblown Allen literally feeding lines to hisu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003efellow actors to give him some smarmy comeback that never fails to show how intellectually superior he is. Different from Annie Hall, Allen is no longer the underdog but an ugly, obnoxiousu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eover-lord…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHis characters in Manhattan, are cardboard. They are not real andu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ethe situations are not real. I have no feeling for anyone in thisu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003emovie, except Woody, who I feel contempt for, given his massiveu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eand unfunny self-indulgence. Itu0026#39;s pathetic to see Allen set upu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHemingway with lines that a teenager would never say in a millionu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eyears, just to trump up his flaccid ego. Everyone in this movie actually feeds him lines to trump up his ego.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike Stardust Memories, this one shows Woody at his self- indulgent worst. This movie looks wonderful and sounds wonderful with the Gershwin score, but on further review, thisu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eoneu0026#39;s hollow and ultimately a maddening tribute to an egomaniac.”