Rating: 
Summary: Greek Chorus Stuck Out Like a Sore Thumb
Review: Had it not been for the highly monotonous Greek chorus' intercuts, "Mighty Aphrodite" would probably deserve a higher rating. Overall, a watchable movie, albeit a less witty dialogue than most of Woodman's movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Highly entertaining. Not to be missed by any fan of Woody's who has a decent knowledge of Greek mythology.
Rating:
Summary: Mighty Aphrodite
Review: Hot on the high-heels of "Showgirls" comes Woody Allen's latest film, "Mighty Aphrodite," named after the Greek goddess of love, another American film trying to interrogate the questionable mentality and dubious spirituality of the skin trade. A lot will probably be made of the fact that, not satisfied with merely pointing out classical references in his text, Allen decided to have a whole Greek Chorus (consisting of F. Murray Abraham, Olympia Dukakis, David Ogden Stiers and Jack Warden) filmed in an ancient outdoor amphitheater in Taormina, Italy (wearing masks, no less, in a nod to classical authenticity) and genuflect on the alter of genuine myth to underscore the tragic and comedic parts of his film. It doesn't matter how well- versed you are in the Greeks, you'll be able to enjoy what Allen has done with his approach, which is a very refreshing idea for film (bringing it all back home) and also a great surreal scaffold for the situation he presents. Purists be warned. Allen (Now 60 years old, but trying to play his role like he's not a day over 40) and Helena Bonham- Carter (29 years old) are happily married when one day Bonham-Carter's biological clock goes off and she wants to have a baby immediately. Allen hesitates so much at the thought of pregnancy that Bonham- Carter, who really can't wait, says, "fine, let's adopt, then," which of course hits the raw nerve of Allen's masculinity as he defends his genes against the idea of having someone else's child join their family. Allen's character in this film is a sportswriter, adding another "tough" layer to his never-ending quiche of a meditation/angst-ridden search for definitive masculinity. Every scene where Allen suffers some sort of gender-related torment is set in a male arena: When he's fighting on the phone with Bonham-Carter about the decision to adopt, the backdrop is a boxing club with every ring filled with sparring partners. Another scene where he contemplates his situation shows him pacing back and forth on the sidelines watching the New York Giants scrimmage in the Meadowlands. The couple finally decide to adopt a boy, and in one scene in particular I realized just how much Allen is stuck in a zeitgeist rut. In their uptown apartment Allen and Bonham-Carter bandy names back and forth for the new little tike as Allen, forever the cultural namedropper, comes up with the monikers of all of his heroes: Django, Groucho, Thelonius. Bonham-Carter is oblivious to his suggestions as she coddles the baby and suddenly you realize that Allen should have made this film years ago, because the conversation sounds like something that was written for what would have been the sequel to "Annie Hall." Now that he's twenty years removed from the carefree days of dynamic dialogue with Diane Keaton and the spark she brought as Allen's main female foil, Bonham-Carter seems unsure of herself, treating Allen as obligatorily as a father or uncle rather than her husband. Enter the plot. Bonham-Carter is being chased by Peter Weller (48 years old), a seductively sleazy art gallery owner, which sends Allen's mid-life crisis into an absolute tailspin as he begins wondering if he's really happy with his wife, and as he's looking at his newly adopted "son" he wonders aloud what the mother of his adopted child is like. Enter Cassandra and...you get the picture. One of the things I realized while watching "Mighty Aphrodite" is that Allen has spent a good portion of his career in film flagellating himself for not being the American Ingmar Bergman, when all the time he should have been luxuriating in the fact that he's the American Federico Fellini: He has an uncanny sense for seeking out ripe minor actors, ready to be picked, and then letting them find the aspect of the character they're playing that makes them Characters rather than just parts played by actors. Even though I feel as if Bonham-Carter is not given nearly enough room to fully flesh out her character (which is a shame for an actress of her caliber), the film is really about Linda, the real mother of Allen and Bonham-Carter's adopted child, who turns out to be a ditzy porn star overflowing with spunk and zeal. Linda, played by Mira Sorvino (Quiz Show, Barcelona), Paul Sorvino's daughter, steals the film. Allen has tempted fate and defied the Greek Chorus' warnings by seeking out Linda, but since she's in the skin trade he arranges to meet her at her apartment in the guise of being merely a "john." When Allen's reticence at wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am sex gets the better of him, he finally shows the age and mindset that he really is and turns into a grandfather before your very eyes. But, Linda is a ditz first and a hooker second in that she understands her victimization but also begins to realize that her situation is only as hopeless as her innate tenacity is boundless. In the most delicate scene in the film, and maybe the most poignant scene I've seen all year, Sorvino is in her bathtub-sized kitchen trying to defend her life to Allen, and as she keeps talking she realizes her own complicity until she finally mentions that she even had a baby once that she gave up for adoption. Allen gives her this scene by not entering the frame for what seems like a full minute. The direction in this scene alone, in Linda's chessily decorated flat complete with clocks of pigs in heat, shows just how gifted Allen is at being able to take an obscure actress, give her a two-dimensional role and have her find the heart and soul of the film on her own. Leave it to Woody Allen to deliver a film that is fascinating on many levels and is as beautifully structured as anything you're likely to see all year. I don't believe it's Best Picture material, but it does show a very strong return to form for Allen, no matter how unsure he is of reentering the war between the sexes.
Rating: 
Summary: I hate to tell you what they call Oedipus in Harlem...
Review: I told friends that they would enjoy "Shakespeare in Love" a lot more if they watching "Romeo & Juliet" and "Twelfth Night" because then they would get all the great in-jokes that had to do with the Bard (rather than the relatively lame ones having to do with Hollywood). Unfortunately, I think that to really get the most out of Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite" you have to have a really good understanding of classical Greek tragedy, which would involve much more than screening "Oedipus Rex." I mean some of the funniest moments in this film involve "komos," which is when the chorus engages in a lyrical dialogue with one of the characters and make brief comments or inquiries during the course of an episode. Now, people might have heard about hubris and know a chorus when they seen one, but when a film starts dealing with koros (excessive self-reliance), harmartia (the protagonist's tragic flaw/error of judgment), and Sophoclean irony, I have to think we are talking more misses than hits. So let me just assure you, that Allen plays with the elements of Greek tragedy in a way that would have Aristophanes laughing, not to mention the Classics department at an Ivy League university. Fortunately, the film is also funny for those who do not know the difference between anagnorisis and mimesis. Mira Sorvino steals the show in her Oscar winning performance as the bubble-headed hooker that Woody has tracked down in a quest to find the birth mother of his adopted child. F. Murray Abraham is the Choragos (sorry, that's the leader of the chorus in ancient Greek drama), who provides the commentary on Woody's ill-fated actions. David Odgen Stiers, Olympia Dukakis and Jack Warden are mythical figures come to life to lend a touch of class to the proceedings. This is not a great Woody Allen film, of which we have had plenty, but the decision to cast the story of Lenny Weintrib as a Greek tragedy was a masterstroke which makes this little film worth watching more than once. Besides, there is nothing like showing the beginning of the film (after the credits of course) to a group of students beginning a study of Greek tragedy and watching their jaws drop when they realize it is a Woody Allen movie. So, if you know someone teaching Sophocles, Euripides or others of that ilk, let them know about this one.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, funny and has some very good points
Review: I used to be annoyed with Woody Allen, but I think you just need to watch more than just a couple of his films. I had wanted to see this film for a long time. It was much different than I ever thought it would be. Very different, very funny and very well acted. Of course Woody Allen is Woody Allen, which I've come to expect in ALL of his films. Allen and his wife, played by Helena Bonham Carter are thinking about adopting a baby. Of course Allen doesn't want to. So...they do. After years of having this child, they are great parents and are living a good life. But when Allen starts to become obsessed about finding out who his son's real mother is, it takes him to the edge. That's where he meets a quirky prostitute, who goes by the name of Judy Cum (played wonderfully by Mira Sorvino). This is his son's mother. He wants to change her life, make her life a better one so when, and if his son ever finds out this is his mother he won't be ashamed. As Allen and Carter's relationship grows apart, a romance begins with Sorvino and of course Woody Allen tragic comedy insues. The film is built around a Greek play that is happening. These players in the Greek play are advisors to Allen's life. They help him make choices and give him advice, which he rarely takes. It was a very nice, original and unique spin which made the movie that much better. All in all it's a pretty much relaxed, semi-funny, comedy-drama about second changes, marital issues, children, and living up to your dreams. Wonderful piece of film here.
Rating: 
Summary: Mighty Awful
Review: It has all the subtlety of a train wreck. Woody Allen is a clever man, and indeed there are several good zingers, but each one is repeated in such a juvenile manner that I fear Mr. Allen doesn't give his audience enough credit for getting it the first time. For example, there is a scene where Woody is matchmaking two idiots. He declines their invitation to join them by saying, "No, thank you. I'm superfluous." To which one idiot replies, "Oh, you're not feeling well?" What a great zinger! But then he belabors the joke by going on: "No, SUPERFLUOUS. Uh... superfluous means unneccessary... I'd only get in the way..." This sort of audience-coddling continues throughout the movie, right up to the end, where even the final scene is amended with a clumsy explanation for the dim-witted. The movie ends with the same gag (a Broadway-Greek chorus) that has already been done 3 times in the last 95 minutes. We got it the first time, Woody. Acting? You'll hardly notice. The characters are such obvious, stereotypical caricatures that they become entirely boring and predictable--if not offensive to Jews, women, boxers, hairdressers, husbands, wives and barkeeps. I was embarrassed for the lot of them. Unless you, too, are stuck in the sixties, you might do yourself a favor by skipping this one. Woody even managed to waste the incredible talent of F. Murray Abraham!
Rating:
Summary: Mighty Awful
Review: It has all the subtlety of a train wreck. Woody Allen is a clever man, and indeed there are several good zingers, but each one is repeated in such a juvenile manner that I fear Mr. Allen doesn't give his audience enough credit for getting it the first time. For example, there is a scene where Woody is matchmaking two idiots. He declines their invitation to join them by saying, "No, thank you. I'm superfluous." To which one idiot replies, "Oh, you're not feeling well?" What a great zinger! But then he belabors the joke by going on: "No, SUPERFLUOUS. Uh... superfluous means unneccessary... I'd only get in the way..." This sort of audience-coddling continues throughout the movie, right up to the end, where even the final scene is amended with a clumsy explanation for the dim-witted. The movie ends with the same gag (a Broadway-Greek chorus) that has already been done 3 times in the last 95 minutes. We got it the first time, Woody. Acting? You'll hardly notice. The characters are such obvious, stereotypical caricatures that they become entirely boring and predictable--if not offensive to Jews, women, boxers, hairdressers, husbands, wives and barkeeps. I was embarrassed for the lot of them. Unless you, too, are stuck in the sixties, you might do yourself a favor by skipping this one. Woody even managed to waste the incredible talent of F. Murray Abraham!
Rating:
Summary: The emperor has no clothes!
Review: It is time for people to realize that Woody Allen has been pushing the same stchik for years. His hoplessly insecure characters are the same from movie to movie these days.By those standards this movie is among the worst. Highlighted by an annoying performance from Mira Sorvino in the cliched role of hooker with a heart of gold (did the Academy even see this movie?) this film is a major nusance from start to finish.Avoid!
Rating:
Summary: Woody being Woody
Review: It's a typical Woody Allen nervous character starring opposite a hilariously foul-mouthed Mira Sorvino in "Mighty Aphrodite." BTW, Tyresius was from Thebes, to clear that up from a previous reviewer (Classical Greek major here). Sorvino artfully drops some bombs that are funny just based on the shock value. After she and Woody first hook up for a jaunt about town and they return outside her apartment, she says, "I feel like I owe you a big f......" and you think "-avor" (favor) is coming next. But NO! True to her character, "uck" follows the f! Really funny line, but not a film to watch with the kids -- hence the R rating.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderfully constructed film
Review: Mighty Aphrodite did remarkable things with the Greek choruses and dialogue. It is truly worth viewing over and over again, despite the similar plot lines in all of Allen's works.
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