Sex sells. Romance is what drives many of our favorite movies and TV shows. It’s the story that every writer and director can turn to because we the viewers like to see our own romantic troubles mirrored on the silver screen. Mighty Aphrodite (1995), directed by Woody Allen, is a film about a New York sportswriter, Lenny, and his search for the birth parents of his adopted son Max. But the movie takes a dramatic turn when we learn that Max’s birth mom is a prostitute/porn star (whose lack of intelligence begs the question why is Max so brilliant?).
Up to this point I think anybody can see the comedy in this film and find it humorous, but the drawback that makes this movie a pinch too disgusting for my taste is that the leading actor is PLAYED BY Woody Allen himself. The film introduces the viewer to a romance between the 60-something year old Woody Allen and the less-than-half-that age Mira Sorvino. Perhaps what makes this more distasteful is that any informed viewer can see how Allen might have thought up this storyline from his own life and the publicized relationship he had with his “stepdaughter”. Even without the back story, these types of relationships are not things people pay to see at the movies. Kenneth Turan sums this up in his review perfectly saying,
Woody Allen straddles a fine line in this movie and unfortunately the film is slightly more vulgar than it is funny.
Up to this point I think anybody can see the comedy in this film and find it humorous, but the drawback that makes this movie a pinch too disgusting for my taste is that the leading actor is PLAYED BY Woody Allen himself. The film introduces the viewer to a romance between the 60-something year old Woody Allen and the less-than-half-that age Mira Sorvino. Perhaps what makes this more distasteful is that any informed viewer can see how Allen might have thought up this storyline from his own life and the publicized relationship he had with his “stepdaughter”. Even without the back story, these types of relationships are not things people pay to see at the movies. Kenneth Turan sums this up in his review perfectly saying,
And though Allen's fascination with older men/younger women relationships has
yielded successes like "Manhattan" and "Husbands and Wives," the older he gets
the more uncomfortable these liaisons are to watch. And throwing in the
venerable male fantasy of getting involved with an attractive prostitute adds to
the off-putting taste that not even a finely tuned sense of humor can totally
erase.
Woody Allen straddles a fine line in this movie and unfortunately the film is slightly more vulgar than it is funny.
2 comments:
as much as i agree with you on this, i have to say seeing the two of them in the same shot together was pretty hilarious. cuz he's this like...shriveling old man next to this young woman about twice his height. i mean he seemed to use their differences in age and height to his advantage so much...
~Preston
What was the publicized relationship Woody Allen had with his 'stepdaughter' please elaborate!?
And I disagree with you I do think these are types of movies you will be seeing more of in the future and/or even now. The really inappropriate, awkward, risky not necessarily P.C. movies are what will be getting better attractions. I think a big thing about this 'uncomfotableness' is starting to really attract audiences’ b/c it is displaying the not talked about truths many families strive to cover up. For example: Juno - teen pregnancy, not something that should (in my mind) be looked at as funny or something many teen girls should be relating to I think the idea is gross but again look at the box office ratings... not something to be ignored. Even in that other movie… something’s got to give defiantly a movie that starts with a man and a girl over half his age.
-Jennifer
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