"Manhattan" is a play with good cinematography. That is, there's no action scenes, but there is a great deal of dialogue, George Gerschwin music, and shots of New York City. The Gershwin soundtrack is actually intrusive, but the script is excellent.
Woody Allen directed, co-wrote and starred in the film. He is torn between two girlfriends: young and earnest Mariel Hemingway and indecisive pseudo-intellectual Diane Keaton. Keaton also has an on-off affair with Michael Murphy (who had just played another philandering husband in "An Unmarried Woman"). To complicate things further, Allen has quit his day job to write a novel, and is trying to stop his ex-wife (Meryl Streep) from publishing a tell-all expose of their marriage.
The script is terrific. Allen has a gift for
self-deprecating humor, and can also milk
commonplace setbacks (e.g. his new, inferior
apartment has brown tap water) for laughs.
Allen's sense of humor and romantic nature makes
it almost credible that his character would be
dating Hemingway and Keaton despite his
unemployment and unromantic appearance.
Allen and his film characters seem to have much
in common. Allen uses "Manhattan" as a platform
to promote his art preferences (Bergman and
Fellini for films, Louis Armstrong and George
Gerschwin for music, etc) clearly favoring the
nostalgic and esoteric over the present and
popular. For most actors, this would be
egotistical and distracting, but for Allen and
"Manhattan" it works. This may be because Allen's
character is an intellectual who would be
expected to have and espouse such views. (91/100)
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