The Worst Film Ever

Beautiful, moving film.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is the story about so-called wizards or warlocks if I can call them like that. Arrogant and cheep thieves full of self-steam, who thinks that they can cloud other men's mind. I don't like Woody Allen, But Hellen Hunt is simply the best. She always knows how to refresh movie by her appearance and be one of a kind. When I'd seen "What women want", I definitely told to my self that for Hellen Hunt, sky was the limit. This is the message for all who believes that the power of manipulating people can makes someone rich. The other side of that coin is always tails. The ability of deception, which mark makes the hunter.

This has gotten some crummy reviews but it's not all that bad, even if not among Woody Allen's best. One of the things that makes it watchable is that the plot GOES somewhere. Somewhere around this time, Allen was turning out thin plots full of rows but lacking good jokes, like "Manhattan Murder Mystery." Here Woody is an insurance investigator who looks into high-end jewel thefts. He works in a crowded office that is being rearranged by an efficiency expert, Helen Hunt, whom he hates. At a nightclub both Allen and Hayes are hypnotized and left with an open post-hypnotic trigger, the word "Constantinople" in Allen's case, and "Madagascar" for her.The villainous stage performer, "The Jade Scorpion," calls them up at awkward hours of the night, triggers the hypnotic trance, and has them carry out heists for him. Allen becomes the chief suspect. And all of this mishigas takes place in a tangled web of relationships and buried lust of the kind that possesses Allen the film maker.The air is filled with insults and wisecracks, mainly from Allen. Some are pretty enjoyable. Allen plays his familiar nervous wreck, stuttering, put upon, and thoroughly confused. The "girls" -- and what girls they are -- look appealingly 1940-ish. The three principal women look great -- Elizabeth Berkeley, Charlize Theron, and Helen Hunt. If there's a problem with them, it's that they wear too many clothes. Shame.The musical score is of the genre that Woody Allen feels most comfortable with, period recording of Duke Ellington and the like -- "Sophisticated Lady," "How High the Moon," "Sunrise Serenade." I kind of like it too, so much more affecting than listening to some gangsta threaten to rip my head off and pee down my neck cavity.You'll probably enjoy it and smile from time to time. I don't think it will bore you; it moves too quickly.

Underrated 1940s "noir comedy" among Woody Allen's resume, and he considers it one of his worst. As a fan of Woody's, agree to disagree. The period art direction, costumes, hair and makeup, characterizations, atmosphere, and sensibilities offer Allen fans a beautiful platform for his cast to work from. And what a cast assembled!A magician (David Ogden Stiers) places an insurance investigator (Allen), under anxiety due to a recently hired office "organizer" (Helen Hunt) who has urged the company boss (Dan Aykroid) to use outside PIs in an independent investigation firm instead of the current in-house detectives on the payroll, under hypnosis, encouraging him through a trigger word to steal jewels held by his employers (or behind security for clients to protect their jewels). It happened while Allen was attending a birthday function for a fellow co-worker in a club with Stiers performing his hypnosis act. Hunt is also under hypnosis and later when Allen is unavailable, Stiers will use a trigger word on her to commit the same type of jewel heists.How this "wronged man" plot gets Allen off the hook is most amusing, but for me it is the traded barbs/insults/remarks between him and Hunt is what most entertained me personally. I realize Allen felt he was miscast in the lead, but the cockroach or weasel insults towards someone else wouldn't have had the same impact as when Hunt demeans him. The "don't have a coronary" or "don't choke" or "be careful not to be hit by a truck" conclusions to finished dialogues from Hunt to Allen make up some of the "flirt" later to give credence to their unlikely romance and alliance later. The case that develops against Allen is damaging but how Wallace Shawn and Brian Markinson learn of his hypnotic entrapment, rescuing him in the process, proves to be his salvation. Charlene Theron is a sultry and naughty femme fatale caricature, John Shuck is an opinionated employee who works at the company, and Elizabeth Berkeley landed a plum part as a stunning but supposedly airheaded secretary at Allen's company. The description of Allen's apartment by Theron, Allen conceding to Hunt after considering her a cipher that she is worth confiding in, and Allen giving Hunt as much as he takes offer rich dialogue exchanges and humorous quips to giggle at. Just lots of fun. The setting enhances the cast and words. A sleeper in Allen's oeuvre.

It's New York in the 1940's.CW Briggs is an insurance investigator who's constantly fighting with efficiency expert Betty Ann Fitzgerald.She has an affair with his boss Chris Magruder, only his wife is on the way of their happiness.Then those two, CW and Betty Ann are hypnotized by a magician called Voltan.When he hears the word Constantinople, he falls into deepest trance.The word Madagascar does the same for her.These words make them do things they wouldn't normally do, like commit a robbery.And also like each other.Could they be meant for each other? The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) is a Woody Allen film, where he also plays the lead.He has gotten a terrific female lead from Helen Hunt as Betty Ann.Dan Aykroyd gives a great performance as Magruder.Elizabeth Berkley is fantastic as Jill.Charlize Theron has the looks and the talent, in this one she plays Laura Kensington.Allen's regulars Wallace Shawn and David Ogden Stiers play George Bond and Voltan.I just saw the movie on a DVD, having seen it once before.This is a rather interesting Woody Allen picture.It may not be the funniest, a few chuckles here and there, but it's fascinating.It's quite enjoyable to watch Allen every time he hears Constantinople.The movie tries to capture the spirit of the old screwball comedies, kind of what Tracy and Hepburn did, but gets only halfway.But it's a very good effort.