Manhattan Murder Mystery

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.

This is a nice and light Woody Allen comedy about a death in a building that could be a murder. At least Diane Keaton's character thinks so, without really having a reason for that. She plays Carol Lipton, married to Larry Lipton (Woody Allen). They have just met their neighbors Paul (Jerry Adler) and Lillian House (Lynn Cohen) when Lillian dies. Because Paul is not that sad and is too ready to move on Carol becomes suspicious. When she is realizing certain strange events that has occurred her suspicion grows. Larry thinks it is pretty stupid but when a friend named Ted (Alan Alda) does believe her and helps her with the investigation he gets jealous and offers to help after all.

Whether a real murder has committed is not the point, I guess. Allen gives us standard movie situations, ridicules them a little, and betters them then. There is a scene where Allen and Keaton go from an elevator into a basement when the lights fall out. It is completely dark, something we have seen more in thrillers, and for some reason Allen is able to make this cliché thriller scene suspenseful. There are more of these moments. Since this is an Allen film there are a lot of links to other famous movies (the script itself is a little like Hitchcock's 'Rear Window') and famous scenes, the ending in particular does a terrific job in reliving one of the most memorable scenes out there. (It has to with mirrors, I guess you know what movie I am talking about). This light Allen comedy is a terrific mystery story with brilliant touches that will be liked not only by Allen-fans, but by everyone who loves either comedy or mystery suspense.

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

This is the sort of movie I can watch over and over. In one word I would say it is clever. A combination of mystery, suspense, drama, and Allen's ingenious humor, Manhattan Murder Mystery is my favorite Woody Allen movie. Perhaps my favorite movie - period. The plot was fresh, and having such humor with suspense is just too good. Another quality I enjoy in this movie is how Allen avoids an "over-polished" look. For instance, the scene where a neighbor in the hallway asks Paul about a rent increase. The actor appears to stumble for the right word, but Allen let the scene go that way giving it a very natural look. The restaurant scenes also portray realism with multiple conversations at one time; a quality I love in all of his movies. This makes reviewing the movies interesting- you pick up something new each time you watch it! Woody Allen's style is definitely an intelligent humor.

• "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.