I have yet to see any other Woody Allen films, so I can't say whether this is his "best" or how it measures up to his other work. But when I caught this on Bravo the other night, I found it to be a highly entertaining, occasionally suspenseful flick. Sure, there isn't much substance to the whole thing. Sure, Allen and Diane Keaton, as the married couple whose neighbor may have bumped off his wife, improvise half their dialogue, or give a very good imitation of it, and argue awfully loudly in their apartment at 1:30 in the morning. But there are plenty of great lines and scenes, and yes, just the faintest tinge of tension and suspense at the right moments. I also was struck by Diane Keaton's performance. Despite the apparent improvisation, she was really good, believeable, funny, and even sympathetic as the wife who gets cuaght up in investigating the murder for many different reasons. She does have great chemistry with Allen. And considering all I've read about Allen, it was awfully and atypically (?) generous of him to practically hand her the whole first half of the movie. Not that his performance wasn't good; it was, but he didn't really get going until near the end, when his character finally started to believe it all and got involved. Alan Alda is fine as the man who's "like a girlfriend" to Keaton, and Anjelica Huston certainly made the most of her scenes as the writer who figures out the whole case and its solution in one sitting. Like another reviewer said, this is a movie to kick back, relax, and enjoy. Nothing deep or anything, just good for several laughs, a (minor) jolt every now and then, and pure entertainment.
Review of Manhattan Murder Mystery
