Movie Notes: Deconstructing Harry

July 10th, 2009

= 3 stars

Starring Kirstie Alley, Billy Crystal, Judy Davis
Directed by Woody Allen

Synopsis

Writer Harry Block (Woody Allen) can’t find anyone to travel upstate with to receive a writing award — he’s a total asshole who has alienated everyone in his life by writing them into his tell-all novels.

The Good

• Allen takes a risk playing a complete heel: Block is perverted, vulgar, a-religious, drinks, and cheats on everyone. Contains the darkest humor of any Allen film yet.
• A few barn-busting, hysterical performances that had me chuckling, namely ex-wife Judy Davis waving a gun around, and Kirstie Alley screaming at Block while trying to provide therapy to a patient at the same time. Block even visits hell.
• The surreal bits, emotional outbursts, and perversions form a surreal hybrid of Husbands and Wives and Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex.

The Bad

• Way too many characters, as denizens of Block’s writing come to life along with their real-world equivalents, resulting in two actors playing the same role. Others feel gratuitous, namely an out-of-focus Robin Williams and a womanizing Toby Maguire.
• At this point in my Allen-marathion, I grow weary of the standard Allen themes: Hookers, affairs, old men dating younger women (this time, Elizabeth Shue), and did I mention hookers?
• Better examples exist elsewhere in the Allen ouvre: for a funny hooker, see Mighty Aphrodite and for a mean man who can only exist in his art, see Sweet And Lowdown.

Conclusion

Odd Allen, with an equal amount of positives and negatives. A few chuckles, but the mixed feeling of everything else results in a wash.

Next Woody Allen Movie: Celebrity
Previous Woody Allen Movie: Everyone Says I Love You

IMDB: Deconstructing Harry
Wikipedia: Deconstructing Harry
Rotten Tomatoes: Deconstructing Harry 71%