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DVD Don't Drink the Water
Fans of Woody Allen's earlier, more purely comic movies will enjoy Don't Drink the Water, a film of his successful stage play about a hapless diplomat during the cold war. Michael J. Fox plays Axel McGee, the son of an ambassador to an unnamed Communist country. Though forced by family pressure to enter diplomacy, McGee has no talent for it whatsoever and has been kicked out of cities, countries, and even entire continents. When his father goes back to Washington to seek a higher position, he reluctantly leaves Axel in charge. For a few days, all goes well. But then the Hollanders arrive (Julie Kavner, Mayim Bialik, and Allen himself), a Jewish family from New Jersey who accidentally took pictures of a sensitive intersection. Accused of being spies, they seek asylum at the embassy--and immediately send everything out of whack by insulting the chef, tying up the phones with long distance calls, and almost starting an international incident by squabbling with a Middle Eastern emir. Eccentric characters abound, including a priest who's been in asylum at the embassy for so long he's taken up magic tricks to pass the time (Dom DeLuise) and a snooty bureaucrat who thinks McGee is an idiot (Edward Herrmann). It was funnier when the cold war was still going on, but it's still an entertaining farce, directed by Allen. --Bret Fetzer
`Don't Drink the Water', directed by Woody Allen and based on a Broadway play by Allen is distinctly different from most of his other films due to its dated and just ordinarily funny plot and jokes.
As amazing as it may be to say this, almost all of Allen's movies hold up extremely well over time. There seem to be no serious dependencies on the events of the day. Even Zellig, which takes place in a definite time in history, stands up as well as, for example, `Casablanca' or `The Godfather' based on the durability of the story. The movie under consideration, however, depends a lot on early cold war situations as they may have played out in an American embassy in Prague, Budapest, or Warsaw in the early sixties. Much of the background depends on the pre-Cuban Missile Crisis Kennedy administration. Even the title pictures Eastern Europe as not much more advanced in public sanitation as a Banana Republic, let alone our favorite target of such jokes, Mexico.
I believe this movie, which may have been made for television, was filmed relatively recently, probably after Michael J. Fox left `Family Ties' and while or before he began his last TV series before retiring due to Parkinson's Disease. I have strong suspicions, however, that the play was written in the early sixties, not too long after the time in which the play takes place.
One result of this being an adaptation from a stage play is that there is little or none of Allen's visual humor. All on screen business is written to be done on a stage with one scene on stage at a time. There are also practically none of Allen's favorite topics and plot tricks. This is nothing more than a stage comedy, and virtually none of Allen's other movies are `nothing more than stage comedies'.
That does not mean this is not funny. Allen is as good a joke writer as he ever was. It's just that the movie doesn't engage our interest. Compared to, for example, two average Allen movies, `Shadows and Fog' and `A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy', the characters simply don't sustain our interest. This may be due in part to weaker acting by Fox, Kavner, DeLuise, and Herrmann, when compared to Mia Farrow, John Malkovich, Jose Ferrer, and Tony Roberts, but I don't think so, as the principle's are pretty well cast into parts for which they are eminently suited. Julie Kavner, for example, plays almost exactly the same role as she does in the excellent `Radio Days'.
Even the plot resolution and the minor love interest are predictable.
So, while I am a great Woody Allen fan, I suggest this is one of the very few of his works you can pass up without feeling any sense of loss. It is enjoyable to watch once, but it has little staying power.
Hysterical!
From their entrance into the American Embassy to their exit, the Hollanders are a handful. It's funny just watching Michael J. Fox's character attempting to deal with all the craziness that occurs as soon as they arrive. I don't know where Woody Allen comes up with such interesting storylines for his movies; the set ups are completely unique, and they pave the way for such easy and instant laughter. I rarely choose to check out movies that I haven't seen before because I'm always wanting to watch my favorites again & again, like this one.
A little uneven, but many hilarious moments
Somehat uneven and not as tight in terms of plot as many other Allen films -- basically more of a setup (wacky family seeking asylum in embassy) to let the jokes roll -- but many laugh-out-loud moments and gags. I often find Dom DeLuise to be just too much, but here he shows a little restraint and gets the priest character just right. His "priest" has a network of intelligence behind him, & he telephones them with "subtle" coded messages such as, "The boy with the blue hair is fondling a chipmunk." He also performs some of the best magic routines I've ever seen; best because they are so hilariously stupid. ROFLMAO to see him giving the tricks away either as he's performing them or immediately afterward, when he casually put down the "secret" prop or whatever in plain view.
Great laughs, easy to watch -- Allen gives us one of his lowbrow characters rather than his intellectual neurotic types.
Written for the stage and coherently opened up for the screen by veteran director Herbert Ross, Play It Again, Sam is closer to a conventional comedy than Woody Allen's more self-contained films, but his smart script and archetypal hero-nebbish achieve a special charm aimed squarely at movie buffs. Allen is Allan Felix, a film critic on the rebound after his wife's desertion trying to brave the choppy waters of born-again bachelorhood and struggling to reconcile his celluloid obsessions with the hazards of real-world dating. His apartment is a shrine to Humphrey Bogart, and it's none other than Bogey himself who materializes at strategic moments to counsel Allan on romantic strategy. He gets more corporeal aid from his married friends, Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts),... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Woody Allen - Diane Keaton Director(s): Herbert Ross DVD Release Date: Released the 23 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Three views of life in the city of all cities comprise this film, with segments directed by Woody Allen, Francis Coppola, and Martin Scorsese. The best of the three is "Life Lessons," directed by Scorsese, about an artist (played by Nick Nolte) who uses his hypersuccess to lure beautiful young aspiring artists to serve as his assistant/lovers. The segment is an astute portrait of the nature of the New York art world. In "Life Without Zoe," Coppola portrays the life of the privileged Zoe, the daughter of a world-renowned flutist, whose adventures on the Upper East Side (in the upper echelons of society) play like something approaching a cartoon. Woody Allen finishes up the film with his "Oedipus Wrecks," a typical Allen number about a successful New York lawyer who's still hounded by his... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Woody Allen Director(s): Woody Allen - Francis Ford Coppola - Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 08 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Writer-director Woody Allen has produced yet another challenging and funny film, this time taking on the musical genre and bending it to his own unique vision. The result is one of the most charming films in recent years, as Allen assembles a typically sterling ensemble cast to evoke the romanticism of years past. This time, the large cast (including Alan Alda, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, and Tim Roth) not only turn in funny and touching performances, but they sing the classic songs of the 1930s and 1940s themselves, and sing them very well. The plot centers on an extended family in New York and their various romantic entanglements, including Allen's pursuit of Julia Roberts through the streets of Paris and the canals of Venice. The musical numbers are the film's high... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Woody Allen - Goldie Hawn - Julia Roberts - Edward Norton Director(s): Woody Allen DVD Release Date: Released the 03 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mira Sorvino won an Oscar for her performance as a bubbleheaded hooker and porn star who happens to be the mother of a bright young boy adopted by a Manhattan couple (Woody Allen and Helena Bonham Carter). The story finds Allen's sportswriter character becoming curious about the identity of his son's biological mom, and he strikes up a relationship with her without revealing why. This 27th feature written and directed by Allen is a nice combination of smart comedy and some of the wackier energy of his earliest movies. (Between scenes, there's a running gag involving a Greek chorus--actually filmed among some real Greek ruins--who do song-and-dance interpretations of the script's events.) This isn't Allen at his best, but it is a fine minor work graced by Sorvino's spin on the cinema's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Woody Allen - Mira Sorvino Director(s): Woody Allen DVD Release Date: Released the 18 May 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of Woody Allen's best films of the '90s, Bullets over Broadway stars John Cusack as a virtual Woody surrogate, a neurotic, Jazz Age writer whose new play sounds wooden and unrealistic to a low-level mobster (Chazz Palminteri) assigned to watch over his boss's actress-girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly). When the hood starts contributing better story ideas and dialogue than what the official playwright can conjure, questions (not unlike those of Amadeus) about the price we pay to make art at the expense of other responsibilities are intriguingly raised. Palminteri gives a very interesting performance as the enforcer waking up to the desperate (and almost feminine) demands of his own creative psyche, and Dianne Wiest (who won an Oscar), Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent, and Jennifer... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Cusack - Dianne Wiest Director(s): Woody Allen DVD Release Date: Released the 15 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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