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Deconstructing Harry

Deconstructing Harry

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $22.48
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I really wanted to like this movie
Review: I am a big Woody Allen fan; Broadway Danny Rose is still one of my all time favorite movies. But I found this film mean-spirited and depressing. Mr. Allen has made several terrific movies, revolving around the basic story of the compassionate and intelligent underdog struggling to try to comprehend the human condition, and the importance of interpersonal relationships and trying to help others. He appears to have given up on relationships and people as a whole. Perhaps he has become more cynical. Perhaps more realistic. In either case, I just found it saddening. I heartily recommend Broadway Danny Rose, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Love and Death, and Sleeper for anyone looking for funny and thoughtful movies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Woody's best effort yet !'Fall out of your chair' funny!
Review: I've seen this movie twice and it was funnier the secound time. The characters were believeable (for Woody)and the story great.Great cast. What can I say ! It's funny . P.S. Not for the prudish .Very strong language.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Allen Is Hilarious in "Perverted Comedy"
Review: Release Date: December 25, 1997 I WATCHED this movie and rented it the day it came out on video. For some reason I just couldn't resist Woody Allen's fine talent for comedy.

HARRY BLOCK (Woody Allen) plays a novelist who has written a best-seller about his friends. Now his friends are his worst enemies. He can't seem to get along with his ex-wife, a phychiatrist (one of her patients is or was, I forget, having sex with Harry and that makes her mad).

THIS MOVIE is hilarious as the story unfolds and you begin to meet all the people who this book affected (there are alot of characters if you have seen a preview or saw the box). I give it 4 stars. END

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Witty, perhaps, but heartless
Review: There is no doubting the genius of Woody Allen. The clever ideas and witty dialogue flow thick and fast here, but there is just one problem: The film is totally and utterly heartless.

Woody Allen's humour here is just downright cynical. Cruel, even. The film has a narcissistic feel to it, where everyone is mocked and ripped apart mercilessly apart from Woody's alter-ego, Harry. Though I saw this a few years ago and loved it, on rewatching it recently, I just couldn't enjoy it. His cynicism here is left untempered by optimism and faith, something that marked out his earlier work. Sorry, but this just left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Woody Allen travels into the mind of a writer, excellent!
Review: How can I best describe the story of Woody Allen's 1997 comedy "Deconstructing Harry"? Well, I think that the film does a great job of describing itself with some of the final words of dialogue that we hear spoken by Allen's on-screen protaganist Harry Block, "It's about a really interesting character, a guy who can't function well in life, but can only function in art". This is not the first or last time that Allen has taken on the subject of creative personalities in his work, look at the jazz musician in "Sweet and Lowdown", the playwright in "Bullets Over Broadway", or the documentary fimmaker in "Crimes and Misdemeanors". But with "Deconstructing Harry" Allen seems to be at both his most self-revealing AND self-conscience as he tackles the life of a popular (but unhappy) novelist who is experiencing writers block, as well as those close to him who he has literally "used" in his work. It also seems like Allen was in a particularly dark and pessimistic mood when he concieved this piece (as opposed to say, the romanticism of "Manhattan" or "Annie Hall"), but luckily for us that pessimism translates into some hilarious darkly-comic moments. I must say that personally, I love this film and consider it among Allen's best work ever,...but I gaurantee you, it will NOT be for everybody! This film has an unusally complex style of storytelling, even by Woody Allen standards. We see Harry's life and work unfold through flashbacks, scenes from his novels, fantasy sequences, and most interestingly, conversations with the imaginary characters that he has created. Some viewers may also be turned-off by Woody's excessive use of jump-cuts in this film, as dialogue is sometimes cut off in mid-sentence, and scenes jump from one image to another. However, some words spoken by Harry towards the end of the film about his "fragmented, disjointed existence" (as the on-screen picture runs through a series of quick jump cuts), seem to be an attempt by Allen to actually EXPLAIN the film's choppy style to his viewers. I remember that when some people went to see this film in the theater (including a certain big-time movie critic!) they got completely swamped by it's unpredicable, free-wheeling narrative, but for those who are used to Allen's unique brand of storytelling will probably find it to be quite fascinating! It would be amiss of me not to mention Allen's excellent supporting cast. Elisabeth Shue (looking particularly gorgeous here!) is a sheer delight as Harry's much-younger love interest, and their brief scenes together add s real spark to the film, Judy Davis has some great scenes as a neurotic kook ex-lover who has been hurt by Harry's all-too-true work, and TV actress Kirstie Alley almost steals the show as Harry's bitter ex-wife, and a flashback to the literal END of their marriage is one of the films best moments. Allen and Alley are both exceptional in what must be the most hilarious marital argument scene ever put on film! Harry's wimpy backpeddling and self-justification when caught in an exra-marital affair is a classic Woody Allen moment! This film may not be for everyone, but for those who "get it", "Deconstructing Harry" is a great cinema experience!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Definitely the pinnacle of Woody Allen's later period. Funny, insightful, gutsy & honest, it rivals great literature including the best of Phillip Roth.
Odd the number of pantywaists offended by the "foul language" of this film. Same people, I guess, who felt Stardust Memories was mean-spirited. Hah!
What does that tell us? Mainly that far too many viewers have been boobed down by too much television watching from their earliest days. Great film!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The half of the sin is the scandal!
Review: This film is the most acid and bitter in all the filmography . Don't expect you are invited just to watch another film of Woody Allen . This work plays hard and challenges you . Allen literally makes a social surgeon abou a lot of aspects considered as normal by mostly of us .
Allen has never been so merciless in any other movie . There is a remarkable point what the creation means : all creation demands the destruction of the previous order .
With this advise in mind , just proceed to watch it . You will laugh but the result may be in many cases a forced smile .

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: "DECONSTRUCTING HARRY" HAS MOST OF WOODY ALLEN'S TRADEMARKS.
Review: This movie has most of Woody Allen's signatures: a lot of characters, complex dialogues filled with sexual references and complaints, a lot of special appearances (Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal), black humor, social satire and paranoia. However, all these elements are too familiar and have been explored repeatedly in Woody Allen's earlier movies. So the question here is: Is that good or bad?, perhaps the answer is BOTH.

Some parts of the story are very entertaining and funny, but some of the situations are kinda boring and too familiar to someone who has seen 5 or more Woody Allen's movies. As it's usual in Allen's films, there are a lot of episodes that connect at the end, half of them are interesting and original, and the other half are recycled material from other Allen's movies.

One example of an interesting situation is that the characters from Harry's books appear in front of him, giving him advises or criticizing him. In my opinion that's one of the strongest parts of this movie. And one example of a recycled situation is the love triangle between Allen, one of his former wives and her sister. We have seen this in previous Allen's films ("Hannah And Her Sisters").

For a starter in Woody Allen's movies, this should be an entertaining movie and a good start point; for someone familiar with his earlier work, perhaps this will be a minor achievement in his interesting career.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting concept
Review: Another reviewer said this movie could be called "Woody on Woody," and that is certainly true. Allen's character, Harry Block, is a writer who uses his own life as fodder for his work. Writers will find it an interesting take on the writer's life. It is clearly an allegorical comment on Allen and his own experiences. The casting is fabulous and the humor is dark and often painfully funny. However, Allen's character is so unlikable, that I found the film only moderately entertaining.


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