If nothing else, Woody Allen deserves credit for churning out an average of one new movie a year. The truly amazing thing about the actor/writer/director's films is that they are all, at the least, watchable. His consistency is impressive.
Woody has a remarkable resume. "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Hannah and Her Sisters," "Radio Days," "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Husbands and Wives," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Mighty Aphrodite" are all excellent films.
Allen's been on a little hot streak lately. His most recent efforts, "Sweet and Lowdown" and "Small Time Crooks," are both immensely enjoyable.
This time, though, he's slowed down a bit. "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" is surprisingly mediocre and disappointing. It runs out of gas (and fresh ideas) early and attempts to coast along on the charms of its cast.
Set in 1940, Allen stars as CW Briggs, a long-time ace investigator for a New York insurance company. He's old school and considered a dinosaur by some. Briggs prefers to do things the old-fashioned way and refuses to adapt to the ways of the new decade.
Briggs is also a philandering chauvinist. He doesn't respect women and likes to run around with young, not-so-bright secretaries. Around the office he pinches butts and makes sexist jokes.
CW finds that he has met his match in Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt), who has been recently hired by CW's boss, Chris Magruder (Dan Aykroyd). She's a tough, smart, no-nonsense woman who doesn't tolerate his behavior. She insults him whenever she gets a chance and they volley put-downs.
One evening, CW, Betty Ann and Chris are dining out at a nice restaurant in celebration of a colleague's birthday. As a joke, a magician named Voltan (David Ogden Stiers) hypnotizes CW and Betty Ann. Briefly he makes them believe that they are madly in love. Everyone has a good laugh and then Voltan brings them out of the trance and they have no recollection of it.
The rest of the plot revolves around Voltan using certain characters to commit robbery for him. CW might be investigating crimes that he has committed, with no recollection of doing it. Or maybe the mysterious Betty Ann is behind them.
Meanwhile, as CW and Betty Ann bicker more and more, they just may be falling in love with each other. But she is getting married to someone else. What is CW to do?
The story, while predictable and light, is not the problem here. It's Allen's script. Granted, the jokes are meant to reflect the time period, but most of them simply aren't funny. The one-liners fly throughout the film and most fall flat.
As he gets older and older, it also gets more difficult to accept Allen as a romantic leading man. We just don't believe that these young and beautiful women fall madly in love with him and he needs to think about not casting himself so often.
This being a Woody Allen movie, there is a lot to like. The cast is charming, the music is excellent and it looks good. But "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" isn't an entirely satisfying experience. We've come to expect more from Allen.
Grade: C+
"The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" opens everywhere Fri., Aug. 24.
