Bullets Over Broadway 1994

This was my latest venture into the world of Woody Allen and the first straight-ahead comedy. It was easy to see that this was a movie that was written by Allen because it had many of his trademark trappings, including the neurotic main character. I haven't done much research on this topic but this appears to be about the time where Allen decided to bow out as the star of his films and focus on writing and directing. The results in this movie were mixed as John Cusack was bestowed the honor of playing the lead.

Regular readers to this site probably have noticed that there is regular discussion about John Cusack's role in High Fidelity. About 3 minutes into this movie I had a revelation: John Cusack can't act. He's John Cusack in everything. Some actors (Harrison Ford and Morgan Freeman, to name a couple) can get away with this but Cusack in many ways can not. Think about it... there is serious John Cusack, neurotic John Cusack, solemn John Cusack... the movies may change but he brings his 4 or 5 different voices and faces to each one.

Anyway, I kind of thought that maybe Allen selected Cusack for this very reason. It is evident from the beginning of the movie that this film is about the supporting cast and not the "lead". Diane Wiest is absolutely brilliant in her role as the aging Broadway Diva. One of my first thoughts that I had about her performance is that this is what Kristine Baranski is supposed to be in some of the similar roles that she has played.

The other perfomance that really carried this film was that of Chazz Palminteri. The funny thing is that he's been so good in so many movies but he's never really had a breakout role. I have to admit, his role started out very small and where Allen took him was really funny.

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