I am a strong believer that there are two Woody Allens. The first one makes philosophical examinations of life, and is clearly influenced by the great Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman. The other one loves to make us laugh through intelligent comedy. “Curse of the Jade Scorpion” was certainly written by the second Woody.

I’m really glad that this second Woody exists, because without him I think the only comedies made in Hollywood would revolve around gross out humor, fart jokes, and jokes that are more embarrassing to the victim then truly being funny.

“Curse of the Jade Scorpion” follows the very funny “Small Time Crooks” by merely a year, and is almost as good as that film, but not quite. There are a lot of elements to this film that can be found in many other Woody Allen pieces, like a large cast of recognizable characters, witty dialogue, unfaithful spouses, and of course, Woody himself. I’m amazed at in how many different films he has played practically the same person.

Although I should mention that I never thought I would see Woody Allen escaping from a police station by running across the rooftops. Although brief, this was a vision not seen before in Woody’s thirty-plus previous films.

Also like so many of Woody Allen’s great films, we have a huge cast of big stars practically doing cameo work. Helen Hunt, Dan Akroyd, Elisabeth Berkley, Wallace Shawn, David Ogden Stiers, and Charlize Theron all have significant roles, just to name a few. His movies have never been huge successes by the general public, and even some critics have problems with his work. Most major actors in Hollywood apparently do not, however, since he is able to get relatively famous people to work for practically nothing just to appear in his films. And even more amazing is that these major actors usually appear in minor roles. Never just a cameo, but sometimes with very few scenes or lines.

The film takes place in the 40’s, and features Allen as a private investigator for an insurance company. He is a star performer, although how is never really made clear. At the start of the film he has recovered a stolen diamond that was hidden inside of a telescope. It sounds clever, but all we see of his detective skills is a well paid informant, and a keen knowledge of advanced alarm systems. Woody usually plays somewhat unintelligent failures with very little confidence. Since this appears to be the same Woody we’ve seen before, I didn’t trust the early scenes which attempt to tell us that he is a top notch investigator, and a ladies man.

This story primarily revolves around Woody Allen’s character, and Helen Hunt’s. She plays a tough as nails efficiency expert who is brought in to ‘improve’ the office and she quickly sets her sight on Allen. She doesn’t like him personally, and feels that the type of work he does could be farmed out to independent detective agencies for a much lower cost. He hates her right away too, although he was probably willing to ignore his dislike of her until she turned him down after a brief encounter in a bar.

At another company employee’s birthday party they are both hypnotized and made to think that they love one another when they each hear a certain keyword. This is the setup for the laughs in the film, but the real reason they were hypnotized was so the hypnotist could use them to steal valuables for him. There is suspense in the hypnotic thefts, and comedy in the hypnotic obsession with one another.

I couldn’t help from noticing throughout the film was that either the director or set director seems to have a severe lamp fetish. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every scene of the film has at least one old fashioned lamp in the foreground, background, wall and ceiling in every shot. Characters often speak around them and through them. If you see the film again after reading this, look for it. You’ll see what I mean. Maybe the set department had a large supply of lamps from the forties and just filled the screen with them to help give the forties’ look.

Even though the film takes place in the forties, a lot of it seems rather anachronistic. We see burglar alarms that I doubt could have existed before the 1970s. A lot of the clever dialogue just doesn’t sound like what I’m used to hearing the people in films of that era sound like. Actually the entire Helen Hunt character is rather anachronistic. Not that every woman of that era got married and had babies, but I doubt any business would hire someone like her, and put her in the position of power that she got. It works for the story, but I just can’t say it felt like a movie from the forties, which I’m sure it was trying to do.

There is so much great dialogue in the film that you will forget all but the best lines by the time it is over. There is so much witty banter that you’ll probably enjoy just listening to it more than the plot and story. Woody tells a woman who is afraid to hide in his bedroom because she could catch something, “Germs can’t live in your bloodstream. It’s too cold.”

Another great line has Helen Hunt telling Woody that she wants him to leave the bar after she does so that “people don’t think we are together.” To this Woody replies “Why would they? I’m not dressed like an organ grinder.”

And he asks two detectives from a competing agency who have just barged into Woody’s apartment “Are you guys sure you are in the right room? The traps with cheese in it are down in the basement.”

Woody is not only one of the best American directors we have, but I’m fairly certain that he is the most prolific. Has any other director directed almost one movie a year for more than the last thirty years? I don’t think the #2 man could even claim twenty in the last thirty years. Woody rarely acts outside of his own films, but he appears in most of his own. He usually plays variations on the same character, and here is not much of an exception. However, it is a little bit of a stretch for him playing such a ladies man. It works because he was smart enough to include lots of dialogue from women he just met where they call him short, old, and scrawny. A lot of the women’s dialogue gave me the feeling that those who do love spending some time with him like him because of his humor, which he proves he has throughout the movie.

“Curse of the Jade Scorpion” is one of the few truly funny comedies made by Hollywood last year, and maybe the only one that wasn’t aimed at horny teenagers. I’m not old yet, but when I was a teenager, I still preferred films that earned its laughs through wit and cleverness. Not by trying to embarrass the lead again and again, or gross us out. If you like smart comedies, you’ll definitely want to check this one out!



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older