I had the reaction to this movie that I usually have had to Woody Allen flicks in the past. It's funny, filled with interesting jokes and ideas, but in the end I felt like Woody had more fun than I did.
The scenes where he has petty arguments with Diane Keaton just didn't strike me as funny. To be more specific, I don't think she's funny. Woody Allen is on screen, inducing laughs from his Jewish sense of humor, while she tags along and does a pretty bad job of playing along with it. This is a comedic routine with a long and time-honored tradition: the joker and the straight man. The problem is she can't play a good straight (wo)man-- she's just not fit to act the role. If Woody would choose actresses that can act better, rather than choosing ones on the basis of his relationships off film, his movies would be twice as good.
The scenes where he has petty arguments with Diane Keaton just didn't strike me as funny. To be more specific, I don't think she's funny. Woody Allen is on screen, inducing laughs from his Jewish sense of humor, while she tags along and does a pretty bad job of playing along with it. This is a comedic routine with a long and time-honored tradition: the joker and the straight man. The problem is she can't play a good straight (wo)man-- she's just not fit to act the role. If Woody would choose actresses that can act better, rather than choosing ones on the basis of his relationships off film, his movies would be twice as good.