Mimsy Review: Bullets Over Broadway
John Cusack (Better Off Dead, Gross Point Blank) plays a Broadway writer in New York in this prohibition-era comedy from Woody Allen. He refuses to “lighten up” or otherwise prostitute his work, ensuring that no one will produce it, until his agent gets him backing from a mafia leader. The one catch: the mafioso’s girlfriend must have a “major part” in the play.
| Recommendation | Rent |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Writers | Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath |
| Movie Rating | 5 |
| Transfer Quality | 7 |
| Overall Rating | 6 |
| Formats |
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A good but not great movie, with a twist ending. The production values are very good, and the DVD is wonderfully transferred. The set design appears to be very authentic. The plotline is filled with ideas, keeping Allen from focusing indepth on any one of them. David Shane (Cusack) is saddled with a woman who can’t act to save her life, and demands Julian Marx (Jack Warden) to get once-great actors and actresses who are, unknown to him but known to Julian, on their way down. On the way, his lead actress (Dianne Wiest as Helen Sinclair) seduces him, he ends up taking writing cues from a mob hitman, and he directs a hit play, thus failing his life-long dream of being misunderstood in his own time.
Rob Reiner (Spinal Tap, All in the Family) has an interesting small part, and Tracy Ullman is one of the lead actresses in the play within the movie.
Recommendation: Rent
| Director | Woody Allen |
|---|---|
| Writers | Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath |
| Actors | John Cusack, Tracey Ullman |
| Spoken language | English |
| Subtitle | English |
| More links |
- Bullets Over Broadway•
- John Cusack (Better Off Dead, Gross Point Blank) plays a Broadway writer in New York in this prohibition-era comedy from Woody Allen. He refuses to “lighten up” or otherwise prostitute his work, ensuring that no one will produce it, until his agent gets him backing from a mafia leader. The one catch: the mafioso’s girlfriend must have a “major part” in the play.
- John Cusack at Wikipedia
- “Cusack gained fame in the mid-1980s after appearing in teen movies such as Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, One Crazy Summer, and Sixteen Candles. His roles broadened in the late 1980s and early 1990s with more serious-minded fare such as the political satire True Colors and the film noir thriller The Grifters.”
- Tracey Ullman at Wikipedia
- “Her early appearances were on British TV sketch comedy shows A Kick Up the Eighties (with Rik Mayall) and Three of a Kind (with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield). She emigrated to the U.S. and created her own network television series, The Tracey Ullman Show, from 1987 until 1990, from which The Simpsons was spun off in 1989.”