Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Bento de Espinosa This is easily Woody Allen's best movie. It is funny, daring, provoking, very well played and very critical of religion, especially of the idea of "chosen people", which is so important for most Jews, but is present also in the minds of Christians, who think they are something special because they believe in an invisible being of an ancient book."Tradition is the illusion of permanence." - Woody Allen (Deconstructing Harry)A must see!

Python Hyena Deconstructing Harry (1997): Dir: Woody Allen / Cast: Woody Allen, Kirstie Alley, Billy Crystal, Elisabeth Shue, Judy Davis: Unique, funny and sometimes offensive comedy about self analysis. Harry Block is played by Woody Allen and he wrote a novel regarding his sex life and certain women are furious. "You told our whole story!" shrieks one victim. It chronicles Harry's hunger for sex weaving in short stories of past relationships. Kirstie Alley plays his shrink and ex-wife who objects to their son accompanying him to a university where he is to be honored. Detailed with great visual aid including a dream sequence set in Hell that is questionable at best. Allen uses wit and cutting-edge humour to create realism and satire as he used in Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters. Harry has a great relationship with Elisabeth Shue but fears of losing her to best friend Billy Crystal, who has a scene where he is seen as Satan. Alley displays frustration and anger particularly when Harry disobeys her and takes their son on a forbidden road trip. Judy Davis arrives brandishing a gun cursing Harry's references to her in his book, as well as her association with him. Terrific ensemble cast that enter throughout within pivotal moments within Harry's troubled existence. Portrait of someone who cannot function in life but rather within the world he creates through his work. Score: 9 / 10

leonblackwood Review: I tried my best to get into this movie, but I ended up falling asleep. It's not that I didn't understand the whole writers block theme, but I just didn't find it interesting or entertaining. I'm still struggling to get into Woody Allen's writing and direction, which requires a warped sense of humour. There are some great stars in the movie, like Robin Williams and Demi Moore, but the movie is based around Woody Allen who is struggling to write his next book and finds it hard to hold down a relationship. The concept wasn't bad, but I couldn't keep up with the script which relies on words more than actions. Anyway, if your a Woody Allen fan then this movie isn't that bad, but I'm still trying to find out why he is so well respected in the movie world. Disappointing!Round-Up: After watching a documentary about Woody Allen, I've decided to try out a few of his movies, but this wasn't the best one to start with. All of the actor's give there all, like in most Woody Allen movies, but I'm still a bit sceptical about his writing. Judging by the amount of money that the movie lost, I'm not alone by thinking that this movie wasn't that good, but he still gets all of the big name actors/actresses wanting to star in his movies. Maybe his earlier work is better than his later work. Budget: $20million Worldwide Gross: $10.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies about a struggling writer who uses his own personal life to come up with ideas for his next book. 3/10

The_Movie_Cat Deconstructing Harry is probably Woody Allen's most interesting and controversial film from his troubled 90s period.Coming at the height of turmoil in his personal life, the same year that Deconstructing Harry was released, Allen married Soon Yi Previn and the world was given an insight into their relationship in the rewarding documentary Wild Man Blues (6). Deconstructing Harry sees him slam reality and fiction together, giving (except for one exception) an expletive-free and free-flowing series of fantasy vignettes with jump- cut, foul-mouthed bites of reality. For this reason more than any other it's a film that could upset Allen purists, as his attempt to capture real life sees multiple uses of the word "f***" and even the "c" word coming from Woody's lips on two occasions.Is the film misogynist? Possibly. Woody certainly appears to have anger towards women here, and while the ladies of the night so romantically depicted in the likable-but-bland Mighty Aphrodite (6) are here "whores" and "hookers", there's also more than an element of racial patronage. The adjoinder from an African American prostitute over whether she knows what a black hole is ("Yeah... that's how I make my living") is probably the most repellent line in an Allen film, bar none.Even today Woody is still capable of making watchable films, but they're rarely essential and tend towards the reactionary. Little of his later period has come close to matching the vibrancy and sheer anxiety-based energy of Deconstructing Harry. This is Woody venting his spleen for the masses, and seeming to toy with the "playing himself" questions. It may not be pleasant to watch, but it's never dull.Again, his Jewish fixations can be offensive, though the scenes with his sister and brother-in-law are amongst the funniest in this not quite laugh-a-minute vehicle. I loved the bit where he tells his sister's husband: "I think you're the opposite of paranoid. I think you go around with the insane delusion that people like you". Yeah, most of the jokes at this stage in his career are recycled, but they're given a new take by the level of unsettling acidity contained in this picture. Annie Hall this isn't.The 1990s won't be remembered as a golden age for Allen's work, a period where he was getting more laughs voicing a cartoon ant than in his own movies. Altogether he wrote and directed ten new films, as well as a grating TV movie of his 60s play/film Don't Drink The Water (4). Films like Alice (5), Manhattan Murder Mystery (6) or Shadows and Fog (5) are watchable yet forgettable, the first decade for Allen where the so-so outnumbered the good. Yet there's still some first rate work in his 90s period, with Husbands and Wives (7) treading familiar ground but in subtle new ways. Sweet and Lowdown (7), a biopic of a fictitious jazz musician, brims with invention... though his first musical, Everyone Says I Love You (q.v.) sadly does not.Perhaps most notable in the 90s is the casting of actors to play the "Woody Allen" role, as he was entering his 60s and perhaps straining even his own much-tested formula of "young girl falls for older intellectual". In this regard then Kenneth Brannagh surprisingly does a better job than John Cusack, playing a substitute in the rewarding Celebrity (7), as opposed to Cusack's turn in the jarring Bullets Over Broadway (5). Which brings us back to Deconstructing Harry, as Allen originally had no wish to star in the lead.Deconstructing Harry isn't a pleasant film to watch by any means. It's crass, foul-mouthed and even obnoxious on occasion. But the fragmented, sketchy nature of events and inventive sequences make it an easier viewing experience than an extended narrative. Not only that, but in watching something which appears to be such a personal statement, then it may not be Allen's most likable or accomplished film, but it remains one of the most intriguing.