Movie Notes: Mighty Aphrodite

July 8th, 2009

Mighty Aphrodite

= 3 stars

Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Sorvino
Directed by Woody Allen

Synopsis

Lenny (Woody Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) adopt a particularly bright child and name him Max. Curious where he got his smarts, Lenny investigates Max’s true parentage and finds his birth mother is a blonde, doltish porn star, Linda Ash (Mia Sorvino).

The Good

Mia Sorvino is excellent as the central, dumb as bricks Linda Ash, who takes everything at face value, treats sex as ordinary, with a horsey voice of a sedated Muppet.
A little Pygmalion when Lenny decides to help Linda become a better actress, which in true tragic terms, soon goes horribly awry.
Some funny moments when Lenny fixes Linda up with the equally moronic Kevin (Michael Rapaport).

The Bad

By this point, Allen is so old he doesn’t fit the character – Lenny’s married to a much younger wife (Helena Bonham Carter) and pals around with Linda – it’s frankly rather gross. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the plot is a contrivance to have him cavorting around with much younger women. Not helping things is a late plot development where Lenny beds Linda.
There’s a Greek chorus that interjects itself into the plot to comment on new developments, but the gimmick grows tiresome after the first few appearances.
The parallel plot line of Amanda’s affair (gee, an affair in an Allen movie? Bet you didn’t see that one coming) gets lost in the shuffle. Part of this I chalk up to the relative paint-by-numbers joylessness of Bonham Carter’s performance.

Conclusion

Worth a rental just for Mia Sorvino’s performance; all else is average Allen.

Next Woody Allen Movie: Everyone Says I Love You
Previous Woody Allen Movie: Bullets Over Broadway

IMDB: Mighty Aphrodite
Wikipedia: Mighty Aphrodite
Rotten Tomatoes: Mighty Aphrodite 75%

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