(rated PG)
Woody Allen stars in his latest flick filmed in (surprise) New York, about an ex-con, Ray Winkler, now living as a restaurant dishwasher with his wife (Tracy Ullman) a manicurist, who dreams of becoming rich by way of robbing a Manhattan bank. His idea is to rent out a closed down shop a couple of doors down from a big bank, dig a tunnel and voila, make off with the cash. Of course he’ll need help from his pals including Michael Rappaport and Jon Lovitz. He has his wife run a makeshift cookie company front, while they dig their way to the lottery. Of course it doesn’t quite turn out that way. Seems the cookies are a big hit! Woody fans will love his new eyeglasses that accentuate those wild Woody expressions last seen in “Love and Death”. The problem arises in the fact that Woody is miscast as the lead who should be a larger sized dumb guy (affectionately named “the brain”, which Woody, let’s face it, is in real life.) He’s too sophisticated and pre-conceived for this character. Hugh Grant has a memorable role giving Ullman’s ditzy “Frenchy” character a taste of the high brow life. Woody’s lost his touch just a bit, and it’s no “Annie Hall” (nothing ever will be), but it’s a must see for fans and as always, witty and smartly written.
