Manhattan Murder Mystery

Manhattan Murder Mystery is a terrific Woody Allen film whit a wonderful mix of murder, mystery and comedy. 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..). Like the most of Allens films this also have a witty dialog and excellent character development. And the murder mystery is very intelligent, fun and stylish mystery-comedy. 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. 9 out of 10.

Larry Lipton (Woody Allen) and his wife Carol (Diane Keaton), both in their late forties, go back from a hockey game to their apartment in Manhattan. The middle-aged marriage indulging each other's pastimes of ice jockey and opera. 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 ever know. Carol is longing to do something with her life, and her curiosity runs wild when her fairly elderly neighbour drops dead. She feels sure the gossipy woman would have mentioned her heart condition. We share Larry's sceptical view of her suspicions, but amazingly it seems there is something going on - especially when the woman turns up alive.

This enjoyable comedy and intrigue film titled ¨Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)¨ balances in the right ratio. A slight murder mystery with a lot of mayhem and confusion in which you have a feisty brew that actually has one or two thrilling, stylish and creepy moments amidst the modish comedy. A bit annoying at first, but little by little it continues to be balanced with fun enough. Light, exciting, entertaining comedy steers clear some of Allen's heavier themes and should keep audiences laughing till the final. Diane Keaton and Woody Allen team up again as two New Yorkers who get involved in a mystery when their neighbor dies under strange circumstances. Woody Allen writing with Marshall Brickman for the first time since ¨Annie Hall¨ and ¨Manhattan¨ makes viewers fall in love with the magic of NYC all over again. Woody Allen originally envisioned ¨Annie Hall¨ as a murder mystery, with a subplot about a romance, during script revisions, Allen decided to drop the murder plot, which he and Marshall Brickman later revitalized in ¨Manhattan Murder Mystery¨. Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman came up with the majority of the screenplay by walking up and down the streets of New York City. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton had trouble keeping a straight face when working together, displaying some uncontrollable laughter between the two, for their laughs were completely spontaneous. Along with the two wonderful protagonists, Allen and Keaton, appears as notorious secondary characters, such as: Alan Alda as Keaton's old flame who still has a yen for her, and publisher Allen's ace author Anjelica Huston, who fancies a mystery almost as much a novelist, adding a good supporting cast: Jerry Adler as the suspicious widower, Lynn Cohen, Ron Rifkin, Joy Behar, among others.

This interesting motion picture was competently directed by Woody Allen, adding the colorful cinematography by Carlo Di Palma, Allen's regular cameraman. In the beginning Woody made usually hilarious films in which he used to act, such as : ¨What's Up, Tiger Lily?¨, ¨Take the money and run¨, ¨Pussycat, Pussycat I Love You¨, ¨Sleeper¨, ¨Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask¨, among others . Subsequently he made several masterpieces. Including a series of movies in which he provided nice direction, investing care enough, wit and warmth, such as : ¨Crimes and misdemeanors¨, ¨New York stories¨, ¨September¨, ¨Radio Days¨, ¨Hanna and her sisters¨, ¨Broadway Danny Rose¨, ¨Zelig¨, ¨Stardust memories¨, ¨A midsummer Night's Sex Comedy¨, ¨Interiors¨, ¨Purple rose of Cairo¨, ¨Manhattan¨, ¨Annie Hall¨, ¨Melinda Melinda¨ and many others . Rating 6.5/10 . Better than average. The movie will appeal to Woody Allen and Diane Keaton enthusiasts.

Light and insubstantial – the thinnest movie Allen made since 'Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy', but still breezy and fun entertainment, and still manages to have a deeper emotional resonance about working through mid-life crises and relationships. The camera-work is a mix. The first half is annoyingly hand-held much of the time, for no particularly good reason, but the second half has some very nice lighting, and a fun 'Lady From Shanghi' homage at the climax.

A flawed film, that one can pick at if you're in a cranky mood, but also one with wit and panache that you can enjoy if you let go of your inner film critic and just watch a master humorist simply tell a good yarn.

• "What would you do if he found you in his house?"
• "I wasn't thinking that far ahead"
• "That far ahead? We're talking two seconds here. All he had to do was look under the bed!"

"Manhattan Murder Mystery" is 50% Hitchcock, 50% Bergman, and 100% Allen. It's frequently laugh-out-loud funny ("you must pay us in small unmarked bills....or, large marked ones, if you want to go that route"), but beyond that, it's a warmhearted, affectionate, insightful look at marriage and middle age. It is also a love letter to New York, and a homage to old Hollywood movies. And it has probably one of the tightest plots of all his films. Woody is very generous about sharing the spotlight with the other three main leads, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, and Angelica Huston. He and Keaton are perfect together and it's a shame they have never worked together again since 1993 - maybe even as the same characters they play here. It's a wonderful film - one of Allen's best. *** out of 4.

This is my favorite Woody Allen movie and right up there with Annie Hall and Manhattan as one of his best. Woody is at his best when he has Diane Keaton by his side and this proves it. A lot of his more recent movies haven't been good, because he is pairing himself with much younger actresses who aren't as good at this type of comedy or who aren't good at all in the case of Helen Hunt. This movie is hilarious even if you are my age (20). I think it's refreshing to go the video store and rent a comedy that isn't either a stupid spoof, or a teen comedy that plays like a rated R sitcom. This is a comedy that actually has a story, and Woody has the best lines. If you don't like Woody's style though you won't like this, but if you have seen Annie Hall or any of his other movies and liked them then you should love this one.



Zoopansick