Alice

Rating:
Summary: Alice with the champagne glass
Review: Woody Allen's attempt at light comedy after the heaviness of Crimes and Misdemeanors only comes alive sporadically, when he exercises the Wonderland associations of his title character. As a wealthy socialite with a back problem, Mia Farrow consults a Chinese acupuncturist who feeds her herbs which have varying results. Farrow's appearance as if she were Joan Crawford is jarring, and the falseness of the environment is also represented by the museum-like apartment all in yellow which she shares with William Hurt, and her servants. One can detect things Allen may have picked from his association with Farrow - his description of her mother as a "third rate" actress, and Alice's admiration for Mother Theresa, but though her talkativenss is meant to be comic (occasionally she reminded me of Judy Garland circa MGM), it comes across as wearisome, though Farrow never appears as arrogant at Allen sometimes has - she's not really the judgmental type. Her best scene involves her transformation from Allen's stammering doppel-ganger to femme fatale in a seduction of Joe Mantegna. The tone of these kind of scenes are introduced by the use of music on the soundtrack- Limehouse Blues, which of course relates to the acupuncturist, and La Cumparsita, which sounds similar to The Pajama Game's Hernando's Hideaway. Allen scores laughs from Farrow being invisible, where a phone receiver is seen dangling in mid air, and with a love potion that is misused at a party and she is swamped by admirers. He also tries for some visual effects with Alex Baldwin as a half visible ghost from Farrow's past and Mantegna and Judy Davis making love in front of video screens, and though a flying sequence is less effective, he does use vocal memory when Farrow and Balwin dance together. There are two instances where the memory effects are distinctly theatrical, with lighting changes and houselights present. Allen also includes a lot of anti-Catholic jokes, as if to make a nice change from his self-referential anti-semitism. His use of the actors is wildly variable, with Blythe Danner (in the best Allen role she's had to date) as Farrow's sister, Robin Bartlett as a friend of Farrow's, Mantegna a puppy-dog sweet love interest though hardly the "dangerous" person Farrow describes him to Baldwin as, and Bernadette Peters funny as a muse. Baldwin isn't around long enough and him being a semi-presence doesn't help, Hurt is dull and seems uncomfortable, Cybill Shepherd and Gwen Verdon are wasted, and Davis has little to do, though thankfully Allen would use her to greater effect later in Husbands and Wives, Deconstructing Harry and Celebrity.