Bullets Over Broadway | | Cast : | John Cusack, Dianne Wiest | | Director : | Woody Allen | | Studio : | Miramax Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 21, 1994 | | DVD Released Date : | May 06, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 10, 2005 | | Summary | 'Another classic Woody Allen film | Content
 | I literally just finished watching this film. What a great concept for a film. I'm going to buy this DVD as soon as possible. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 26, 2005 | | Summary | Revitalized, Funny Woody. Not the best, but great fun. | Content
| `Bullets Over Broadway' by Woody Allen proves that one of Allen's strengths as a writer is in conceiving of implausible premises such as `Zelig', `Purple Rose of Cairo', and this movie and making them seem very real, and in building some very big jokes out of the situation. I believe this is the first movie done after the very messy breakup with Mia Farrow and the scandal with their young adopted daughter. This coincides with a change in studio with the move to Miramax and a relatively fresh crop of actors. While Allen's work seems much fresher after the somewhat weak `Shadows and Fog', there seems to be no inhibitions from the Weinsteins of Miramax on Allen's style. Aside from an executive producer added to the masthead, joining Rollins and Joffre, there is little change in Allen's senior creative team and the movie seems to be as fresh or fresher than Allen has been for a while.
In some ways, the plot is a parody of 1940's film noir renditions of 1920's gangsters, with Chazz Palminteri and Joe Viterelli playing up the Sicilian goodfellas roles as if they just stepped out of a Martin Scorsese flick. Harvey Fierstein also basically plays his stock flaming gay supporting role famously exercised in the movie `Independence Day'. Tracy Ullman also plays a familiar toy dog toting semifamous Broadway actress, contrasting well against Dianne Wiest's rendition of the lead character straight out of `Sunset Boulevard', the fading star who is reluctant to take a part in a play by a new writer, in spite of three miserable flops in a row and no other prospects in the works. (Wiest won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for this performance). Jim Broadbent plays the male stereotype of a faded Broadway actor whose weakness, temporarily overcome, is food and his waistline. Jennifer Tilly is about as close as you can come to a female lead playing against all the talent shown by Wiest and Ullman, but she carries of the role of a classic dumb blond moll (to mob boss Viterelli) who wants to be an actress. Rob Reiner does well in a small part as an idealistic unpublished unperformed dramatist. Mary Louise Parker seems a bit wasted, although I'm sure she was not as well known in 1994 as she is now, after several seasons in an important guest role on `The West Wing'. Jack Warden is sort of the anchor to the film, reminding you that we are dealing with the business of producing a Broadway play. John Cusack has the nominal male lead, shared somewhat with Palminteri, as the struggling dramatist / director whose play is picked up by `godfather' Viterelli who underwrites the cost of the production in order to provide his girlfriend a role on Broadway.
Looked at sideways, the story may seem like an alternate take on the story of Elmore Leonard's `Get Shorty' with Palminteri in the Travolta role. In fact, Travolta would have made a great choice for Palminteri's part in `Bullets...'. But, it is really a very different brand of comedy, patented by Allen long before `...Shorty' was a gleam in Leonard's eye.
In many ways, once the basic premise is laid out, there is nothing very surprising about where the story goes. And, one develops relatively little empathy for any of the main characters, as you do for Mia Farrow's character in `Shadows and Fog' and `Purple Rose of Cairo', for example. But the road taken to get to the ending is filled with more than its share of funny moments. This may even be considered Allen's answer to Mel Brooks' `The Producers', although while `The Producers' is one of Brooks' two best movies, this is not among Allen's top five.
If one were to graph Allen's movie content for humor versus pathos, this would be among the highest in humor and lowest in pathos. It would certainly be one of his best-crafted recent movies.
Easily rewatchable. But, even with the change to Miramax, there are virtually no extras.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 24, 2004 | | Summary | A wonderful study of the artist. | Content
| Departing from the modern realism of 'Interiors,' 'Annie Hall,' and 'Hannah and Her Sisters,' director Woody Allen uses old-time, deliciously over-the-top Broadway to execute with brilliant precision themes concerning the artist, his art, and the motivation to create.
In a problematic but never unexciting performance, John Cusack is David Shayne, a play-write living in New York City in the midst of a stable relationship whilst directing a play found to be pretentiously unrealistic. He casts two generally wonderful actors, the melodramatic but passionate Helen Sinclair (a hilarious Dianne Wiest in a brilliant, Oscar-winning performance), and finally, a gangster's girlfriend, Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly), who simply cannot act...at all. Every word she speaks is painfully bland and obnoxious, and she can't even recognize a few of the more complicated ones (she has a bit of trouble reading "masochistic"). David has no choice but to cast her, though, lest he face the mob and/or lose all financial support for the play. In addition to her obnoxious...erm...stage presence, she brings along Cheech (Chazz Parliminteri), a body guard who often contradicts David's directorial decisions and dialogue.
This storyline could have easily been played off as farce. But under the hands of master auteur Allen, it is obvious that art, theme and credible side-splitting comedy are first and foremost on his mind at all times. Through dinner conversation, casual walks through a serene park, and wonderfully portrayed rehearsals, Allen harnesses this potentially absurd setting with a grace that allows emphasis on the crucial themes concerning all that surrounds an artist's yearning to capture life at its brightest and darkest moments.
Dianne Wiest's powerhouse of a comedic performance only strengthens the fluidity of the writing and direction. Her seductive Helen Sinclair not only overacts her lines, but also everyday expressions (whenever David attempts to say something self-doubting, she shoves her hands in his face, screaming, "Don't...speak"). In addition to these hilarities, Wiest allows us to believe David began to fall for her. She injects a strong, luminous quality into Helen that could intoxicate the most impervious of hearts. Behind the cigarettes and the sparkling hats and dresses, Wiest developed a glowing gem of a human being who feels comfortably real.
Also notable was Chazz Paliminteri who successfully and convincingly began to shed Cheech's "tough gangster" persona to reveal a naturalistic talent for writing that clashed purposefully and appropriately with David's forced poeticism.
Despite some memorable performances and a well-written screenplay, 'Bullets' unfortunately concludes a little too easily. Fortunately, the tone is never monotonous and the laughs keep on coming. What's wonderful about Allen's comedy is that it doesn't feel contrived or trite at any point in time. Even when he plays with the dazzlingly over-expressive lights of old Broadway, whatever comes out of his characters' mouthes feels absolutely natural, and for the most part endearingly uproarious. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 19, 2004 | | Summary | The lack of creativity facing the life itself! | Content
| This film is ione the most satisfactory works in all Woody career .
Since a film maker privated of creative breath , seeks inspiration in the gangster memories . He will be his adviser in every detail concerned with the internal moods of an underworld guy , his feelings , the intimate behavior .
So , this incisive plot wil carry both of them to cretae an amazing four hands script , with the ironic atmosphere and smart gags as Woody Allen knows to get it .
Funny premise , delightful and haunting dilema underneath the laughs .
One of my ten favorite Allen movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 05, 2004 | | Summary | The Producers Meets The Godfather | Content
| A brilliant hilarious valentine to the theatre in it's heyday, wonderfully cast. With two moving characters, the playwright and his shadow. It is just possible that someone who has never performed in any way would not respond to this (see one of my fellow reviewers) but for anyone who has ever been on any kind of stage you'll laugh and you may also have your stomach turn a little. Hope Woody has another one or two like this still in him. |
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