Movie Notes: Mighty Aphrodite

July 8th, 2009

= 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%