Thursday, December 9, 2010

Broadway Danny Rose

I've been remiss in my reviewing duties by not mentioning Mia Farrow.

Her character in this movie is probably my favorite of her roles, mostly because she plays against type.

At some point, I might like to do a comparison of Diane Keaton vs. Mia Farrow. But not now.

Broadway Danny Rose feels like a subtly different kind of movie for Woody Allen. It has the same humor and the same aesthetics, the same themes. But something about it feels different.

Danny Rose is a personal manager, not to the stars but to acts such as a one-armed juggler, a balloon folder, a bad ventriloquist, and a has-been crooner.

It is with the latter that this movie concerns itself. Danny Rose does everything for his clients. His faith in them is off the charts and he would do anything to further their careers. So when the crooner asks that the woman he is having an affair with be brought to an important gig, Rose agrees to be his "beard."

Hijinks ensue.

Danny Rose gives Mia his philosophy, but I think it is also Woody's to us. "We all want what we can't have," he says, which is definitely a theme of most of his movies. But why do we do that? He has a theory on that too. "It's important to have some laughs, no question about it. But you got to suffer a little bit too, because otherwise you miss the whole point of life."

The final scene is similar to the final scene in Manhattan: he's literally chasing after the girl. But unlike in Manhattan, he gets the girl in the end. It's one of the few happy endings in Woody Allen's career.

I like this movie. I think it's one of Allen's overlooked films, but I'm not sure why. I give it 3 3/4 stars.

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