Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy
Theatrical Release: 03/20/1992(USA)
Release Date: 06/05/2001
SubTitles: French/Espanol/English
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: 5.1/1
Run Time: 85 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: MGM
Woody Allen's black-and-white curiosity piece is a mixture of influences -- from German silent film expressionism to
Franz Kafka's nightmare worlds to the contemporary fables of
Wim Wenders.
Woody Allen plays the nebbish clerk Kleinman (in a throwback to his characters from
Sleeper and
Love and Death), who is awakened in the middle of the night by a vigilante group who want him to help capture a serial killer on the loose. Kleinman reluctantly agrees, but when he gets to the street, the vigilantes are gone and Kleinmen spends most of the film wandering the shadowy back alleys in search of the citizen's brigade. Meanwhile, a circus is in town. When sword-swallower Irmy (
Mia Farrow) catches her creepy clown husband (
John Malkovich) getting familiar with trapeze artist Marie (
Madonna), she packs her bags and heads for town, where she meets up with Kleinman. This meeting sets up a number of plot lines that has Irmy befriending a trio of prostitutes (
Jodie Foster,
Lily Tomlin and
Kathy Bates) at the local brothel and accepting $700 from a university student (
John Cusack) who wants to sleep with her. She finally meets up with her husband, and they then find an abandoned baby which they decide to raise as their own.
~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Average Review:
Number of reviews: 1
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A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A Gritty, Lacklusting Dark Comedy.
Woody Allen's 28th film as director combines the elements of old German silent films, Franz Kafka's nightmare worlds and the expressionism of Wim Wendes. Filmed in rather gritty black-and-white, Allen plays a cowardly clerk recruited by an inept vigilante mob searching for a notorious murderer. Also starring Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, Donald Pleasence, Jodie Foster, William H. Macy, John Cusack, Kathy Bates, Fred Gwynne, Madonna, Julie Kavner, David Ogden Stiers, Kate Nelligan, John C. Reilly, Phillip Bosco, Lily Tomlin, Victor Argo, and Josef Sommer.
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