Woody Allen : Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Allen's Most Overrated Film?

We're all adults here, right? We can be objective and rational. What do you think is Allen's most "overrated" film? Not necessarily what you think is his worst film, but the one most undeserving of its received praise.

I'd have to go with Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I walked out of the cinema completely flummoxed about all the hyperbole I'd been hearing about it. I thought it was alright, and I may enjoy it more if I watched it again, but that list is really growing.

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Probably Match Point, which was a well crafted film but certainly not worth the praise the average critic gave it at the time. I have my theories about why that was though ...

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I'd love to hear your theories

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I'm going to go with Annie Hall. It's a great film but everyone talks of it as his masterpiece when he's made many better films.

Open the door for Mr. Muckle!!

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Obviously, it's a tie between Annie Hall and Manhattan.

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I really didn't like Bullets Over Broadway or Manhattan Murder Mystery at all. Especially BOB. People seem to love those films, though.

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Match Point for me too. I think it's awful. Also wasn't keen on VCB but at least no one really insists that that is one of his best, unlike with Match Point.








Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Crimes and Misdemeanors for me. Dreadfully boring

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

It flabbergasts me that any Allen fan could possibly be bored during Crimes and Misdemeanors. It's maybe not my favourite of his films (although it's in with a shout) but I think it's his best.









Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I'll admit the Alan Alda part is fun but I just can't stand the "kill the mistress" part. I thought it was better handled in Match Point.

Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that I'm in the minority. Every now and then I put it on to see if it clicks for me.

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I also feel Crimes and Misdemeanors is his best film.




Open the door for Mr. Muckle!!

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?


I'll admit the Alan Alda part is fun but I just can't stand the "kill the mistress" part. I thought it was better handled in Match Point.

Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that I'm in the minority. Every now and then I put it on to see if it clicks for me.



Fair enough I guess. I just love the Martin Landau parts, they're so filled with tension and angst and soul-searching. I love the little affecting parts like when he gets the silent phone call in the middle of the night and he's not sure who it's from and it's probably just a coincidence but he's so riddled with guilt that it just eats away at him. And I think it's so incredibly well put together, the scene in which Anjelica Huston's character is murdered intercut with Judah and the Schubert music that plays and ratchets up da0 the tension and suspense even more, that's possibly my favourite sequence in any Allen movie.







Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I'll concede more bias on my part. Match Point was the first Woody Allen movie I ever saw and Scarlett J is my favorite actress. I'm really hoping that C&M does click for me because I don't like being in the minority about it. LOL it feels like an important work

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I agree that both Matchpoint and Midnite in Paris are over-rated.

I mean, they are well-done, but neither is much of a commentary on humanity or the meaning of life, like his earlier films were.

To me, those recent films were heralded simply because they were reasonably good, and introduced new folks to Woody Allen.

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Match Point is brilliant.

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In what way? The cinematography? the direction? What is brilliant? Like i said, its very polished, however i don't believe it tackles any thought provoking concepts.... I mean, certainly, there is the Dostekevsky, Crimes and Punishment allegory, where what if you kill someone, will God punish you.... But Woody had already covered this in other films on a much deeper level.

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It's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't co-sign the "brilliant" comment. But, I remember really enjoying the characters and storytelling. Kind of strange to see it named in this thread so many times.

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

While it is no Purple Rose Of Cairo, I would say Midnight In Paris does ask plenty of important questions about our relationship to history, memory, culture and perception of time. On the surface it is a fairly straight forward comedic jaunt but there are plenty of interesting things that make it effective. MIP and Blue Jasmine have waded into the deep end a bit more than the usual 2000s/2010s Allen fare has bothered to do (even when given the subject opportunity, such as Magic In The Moonlight).

Match Point retreaded C&M (and, more specifically, Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy) and gave a lighter, less complex view of some of the philosophical points raised in C&M. MP is deserving of praise as it is not a "bad" film, but it was "overrated" I think for being a "good" modern film, one that didn't bear much resemblance to any previous Woody film - and thus was judged against what constitues a praise-worthy modern film of that year's crop of new releases. Everyone loves to make "lists" (especially in the click-bait era of the internet) and one of the most sought after lists from critics is the "Best Of The Year" film list. And, truth be told, what is considered a "great" film in any given year may only be a mediocre film in the grand scheme of things / bigger picture. And the tendency is to lavishly over praise a film for being the best or among the best just because it's new and because it is usually only getting judged against other new releases, not against Citizen Kane or The Bicycle Thief or something.

And then you get into film critics trying to wrestle with Woody's giant ouevre, which is hard enough to try and deal with even if you're familiar with every one of them. Toss in a all kinds of new critics into the mix who have either only seen a random mis-mash of Woody's work or only the most recent films or, in some cases, none at all, and suddenly you have this completely distorted context by which almost every new "modern era" Woody film is judged by and it rarely ever makes any sense at all. MP was aided by Woody's craftsmanship approach to it and not relying on much of anything of what he was known for - so it benefited from being judged outside of the usual historical House of Mirrors critics use when trying to "review" a new Woody film and being judged by the way a typical modern film gets judged - for what it is within that given year, not what it is in a broader sense.

And that doesn't even really get me started on the flawed makeup of modern critics, criticism, etc.

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

All of them pretty much.

IYI
IYI
IYI

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Midnight In Paris, Manhattan.

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Interesting choices.

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Deconstructing Harry

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Manhattan, Match Point, and Radio Days.

Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Midnight in Paris. It was so bad, I couldn't even finish watching it.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

Midnight in Paris. I don't dislike it, but it's an inconsequential fantasy with very little humour. It has a certain charm, but it's really very average and tepid. It got outstanding reviews, though.

Just forget you ever saw it. It's better that way.

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I really did not like Match Point. The characters were extremely unlikable and the story felt uninspired. I thought it was quite a plain movie.

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I agree. It's 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'.

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I love Woody, but Manhattan (1979) is overrated. Really just has very good cinematography.

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Re: Allen's Most Overrated Film?

I really love Manhattan. To me it's almost the "drama" version of Annie Hall (although it is still really funny).

I can see why you'd say "overrated" in terms of how much people love it vs. how excellent it is, or even how it stacks up to the rest of Allen's pantheon of films. But it's more than just very good cinematography. Consider Isaac's list of "reasons" near the end of the film, culminating with his realisation of what (and who) truly matters to him: that alone is worth the ticket.
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