Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Genre

Comedy | Crime

Director

Woody Allen

Country

USA

Cast

John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz Palminteri, Mary-Louise Parker, Jack Warden, Joe Viterelli, Rob Reiner, Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent, Harvey Fierstein, Stacey Nelkin, Edie Falco, Benay Venuta, Debi Mazar, Małgorzata Zajączkowska, Tony Sirico, Tony Darrow

Storyline

In New York in 1920's, a struggling playwright (John Cusack) is forced to cast a mobster's talentless girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) in his latest drama in order to get it produced.

Opinion

Woody Allen continues on the funny road with "Bullets Over Broadway", a hilarious crime comedy that features a strong supporting cast.

Once again written by Allen himself, the screenplay is great and filled with some witty and entertaining dialogue that gives us, like most of the time, the feeling that the characters are doing some pretty serious things yet they make us laugh.

The plot is not as good as some of Allen's other films but it well combines the world of theatre with the world of gangsterism in a beautiful New York City in the 20's thus being effecting both as a comedy and as a gangster film.

The film compares the artist and the criminal and what we learn at the end of the film is that both artists and criminals have their own morals, they both feel like powerful gods who can create and destroy at the same time, whenever they want to. More important is the ultimate message the film delivers: you may have to make big sacrifices for the sake of good art.

In this film, Allen removed himself from the frame and let John Cusack take on his mannerisms, but it didn't work for me. While I love John Cusack and he indeed did a great job in the film, I was quite upset because he has his own acting style, and seeing him playing Allen was rather painful. If Allen wanted somebody to play him, he should have played the role himself. Anyway, the other performances are great as well. Dianne Wiest gives one of her best and funniest performances, Jennifer Tilly is hilarious as the gangster's girlfriend and Chazz Palminteri gives an excellent performance as Tilly's bodyguard.

"Bullets Over Broadway" may not be Allen's best, but I'm glad this was the film that came out the year I was born. 

Mention-Worthy Quotes

Sheldon Flender: Let's say there was a burning building and you could rush in and you could save only one thing: either the last known copy of Shakespeare's plays or some anonymous human being. What would you do?