#235 – Manhattan
A divorced New Yorker currently dating a high-schooler brings himself to look for love in the mistress of his best friend instead. -IMDb
Manhattan is a Comedy Drama set in New York, directed by Woody Allen and released in 1979.
Just by reading the synopsis of this movie you can tell what kind of story we’re talking about here. 42-year old Isaac (played by Allen) is in a relationship with 17-year old Tracy. Dude. Gross. She’s not even legal. The best friends mistress finds Isaac fascinating, so much that her lover, after discarding her, introduces her to Mr. Gross (pawning of your seconds to friends? Dude.) His ex-wife, the only woman in this story not enthralled by Isaac, is so passionately disgusted by him that she writes a book about him. It seems that Allens character stirs up so much emotion in all the women he meets that you’d think he was an incarnation of Adonis.
When looking through other peoples reviews about this movie, I found that many people think that Allen is “brainy” and smart. I haven’t met the man, so I can’t say for sure, but judging by this movie… Not so much. He is however good at namedropping a mile a minute. To keep up with the conversation the characters have, you have a long list of names you need to know about. A list so long it will frighten Santa himself. That’s not “brainy”. It’s arrogant, condescending and self-serving. And quite frankly a yawn-inducer.
Overall Rating: 2/10
The only positive thing I found about this movie was the scene in which it was set. A beautiful New York, the kind of New York you dream of living in, but only exists on screen.
Random Fact:
Not even Woody Allen himself liked this movie. He tried to stop it from coming out and later said he couldn’t believe he “got away with it”. You and me both, Woody, you and me both.
My name is Kissowa, I'm a scattered Swede and this is my incoherent ramblings. My skills include obsessive over-analyzing, angry ranting and frequent procrastination.














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