DECONSTRUCTING HARRY

"Witty, cutting and intellectually stimulating, Deconstructing Harry is another entertaining journey into Woody Allen land, where life imitates art. From the firsts strains of Annie Ross’s seductive voice singing the words of Twisted ("My analyst told me that I was out of my head…") we know that once again we are entering the world of phobias, obsessions, neuroses, infidelity, fear of death and pill-popping hypochondriacs. But this time, things are even closer to the bone, and digging deeper into Allen’s own closet with higher degrees of vulgarity and full of self-loathing. There is no doubt that some will be offended. There’s foul language, sex scenes, hookers, a visit to an ornate hell decorated by nude bodies: Allen’s collection of colourful characters are cleverly interwoven in and out of reality. Coming face to face with his fictional characters provides a wonderful screen moment for Allen, whose brilliant mind and wit are sharp and in good working order. The lines are fast and furious, the laughs frequent and stinging. The jump cuts accentuate the offbeat, quirky nature of the subject matter, and give the film an effective sense of immediacy. The stellar cast shines at every turn - watch out for Judy Davis’ scene stealer when she discovers that the affair she is having with her sister’s husband is over. And there are brilliant ideas well executed - such as Robin Williams’ character, who suddenly becomes blurry and out of focus - and indeed is out of focus for his entire appearance. While Everyone Says I Love You wallows into romanticism and illusion, Deconstructing Harry has bite and spice and bares Allen’s complexities boldly."
Louise Keller

"One can understand why Woody Allen’s film has caused such a sharply divided critical reaction. Having played such sweet losers throughout his work, Allen has created for himself a man full of self-loathing, a pathetic middle aged character obsessed with sex, booze and pills. He’s a writer of such vivid imagination that ultimately he can’t seem to separate the fictitious world which now seems so real to him. Deconstructing Harry is a dark and savage work, one that explores a warts-and-all, self-obsessed character. Yet, it remains a film more bitingly hilarious and complex than anything Allen has made before. From a purely cinematic level, his latest work is one of a rich maturity, pure artistry, as Allen the filmmaker experiments with unconventional editing, which perhaps symbolises his character’s skewed view of the world. Allen’s darkly wry comments on Judaism, for example, result in the most intricate of comedic performances by Demi Moore, no less, illuminating as the fictitious shrink who marries Allen’s fictional alter-ego (in this case Stanley Tucci) and who reverts to a curious form of orthodoxy after giving birth to their son. In one of the film’s most hilarious sequences, Moore insists on praying before everything, including oral sex. It’s a deft comment on religious fanaticism nicely conveyed. Her real-life equivalent is played to the hilt by Kirsty Alley who is hilariously hysterical when she discovers, to her chagrin, that Harry has just had an affair with a patient. Harry’s complaint? That if they’d gone out more often, he might have had a greater opportunity to meet women he could sleep with. The usual Allen obsessions are certainly prevalent, but with a greater degree of focus and intellect, as Allen finally realises that at 62, love scenes with beautiful women such as Elisabeth Shue is a tad ridiculous. His is an unashamedly honest and cathartic film, yet still remains a highly original and funny piece, unlike the soft romanticism of Everyone Says I Love You. This is more brazen, more sexual and more frank than we’ve had from Allen. All of which indicates that unlike poor, insufferable, self-obsessed Harry, his creator has done a lot of growing up to come up with this, his definitive statement on The Human Condition According to Woody Allen."
Paul Fischer