Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Mark Turner I found it odd that while I remembered the name of this movie there was little about it that I recalled. Not just the story or those involved but I didn't recall much notice of the movie even coming out. Little more than the title. After watching it I found that even stranger since this was easily one of the most accessible Woody Allen films I'd ever seen. Perhaps it was due to the fact people expected one thing from him and this didn't fit that mold. The end result was a pleasant surprise.Diane Keaton is Carol Lipton, a homemaker who dreams of opening her own restaurant (she took a cooking class after all). Carol is married to Larry (Allen), a book editor at Harper. Their son is about to graduate and the couple have fallen into the marriage slump, that time when a couple feels they have no focus once the common bond of child rearing is gone.One night they have a chance encounter with their new neighbors, Paul and Lillian House (Jerry Adler and Lynn Cohen). The elderly couple invite them in for coffee to get acquainted. Paul shows off his stamp collection to Larry while Lillian shows the treadmill she uses to Carol. After leaving Carol worries that she and Larry are becoming that old couple, like the one they just met.The next day when they get home Carol and Larry find that Lillian has died as her body is taken from the apartment. A few days later Carol suspects something is up because Paul just doesn't seem to act like a man who has just lost his wife. When she hears his door open and Paul leaving home at 1AM soon after she begins to investigate just what happened, going so far as break into his apartment.When Larry tells her she's losing her mind she takes her case to their mutual friend Ted (Alan Alda). Recently divorced Larry has commented that Ted always seemed to have a thing for Carol which she denies. With each scene it becomes obvious that Larry was right. Ted and Carol begin tracking down clues she found in Paul's apartment, discovering a potential young lover as well as a twist most won't see coming.Larry, in the meantime, is working with an author named Marcia Fox (Anjelica Huston) on her new book. He learns she played poker to make ends meet at one time and the two plan to meet for lunch so she can teach him how to play better. It's a flirtation on her part but a nerve racking meeting for Larry who still loves Carol. Seeing the chance to take care of two issues at once, he sets Marcia up on a date with Ted.As the movie progresses the real question involved is was there actually a murder here or is it all in Carol's mind? Was she so bored with her life, so worried that she would have nothing left that she turned the innocent death of a woman from a heart attack into a murder most foul? Or has she stumbled on to what could be the perfect murder?It may all sound serious but the movie is more of a screwball comedy than it may appear. Both Keaton and Allen tend to play on the stereotypes they've played before in previous Allen films. Allen is all nerves and flutters, his neurosis on full display for all around to see. Keaton is the woman who wants to seem in control but at the same time is a bit scatterbrained at times. They are a match made in Heaven even if they don't recognize it.The flirtations both experience while dealing with their own issues with each other are played as comical rather than salacious. Both might enjoy the fact that someone is flirting with them but at their core they love one another and have no intention of parting ways.It is the murder, or at least the potential of their having been a murder, that brings them closer together while at the same time late in the film nearly tears them apart. The jealousies Larry has towards Ted early on are mirrored by Carols later when she thinks he's attracted to Marcia. As with the minor issues they both have and the similarities in behavior, their jealousies show how alike they are.What makes a stand out performance in a film is the believability of the actors in the roles they are playing. Those that are bad you find yourself knowing they are acting in each scene. Those that are good you watch and lose yourself in the performance, never realizing until the final credits that you weren't watching a slice of life but a performance. All involved here present that second form of acting. The only one that seems to play it too far over the top is perhaps Allen. Having seen the same nebbish style character as he's played for years in one more movie doesn't make the character any more convincing.It might seem like the movie is a thriller but in reality there is a lot of comedy involved here. Not just in the situations involved but the dialogue between characters as well. It's better not to share those moments and allow the viewer to enjoy them as they come along. But there are plenty of moments to smile or laugh at here.There is also a nice homage if you will to director Orson Welles that Allen as director of the film includes. Paul owns several movie theaters that play vintage films. At the climax of this film the movie LADY FROM SHANGHAI is on the big screen showing the sequence of Welles in the mystery house sliding down the curving slide. This is juxtaposed with the action taking place in the film there behind the screen, a stage covered with old mirrors as two adversaries confront one another. It works incredibly well.Allen fans will want to add this to their collection. If you're not an Allen fan give it a watch anyway, it's a nice comedy/whodunit that will entertain you from start to finish. Twilight Time is releasing the film and as always have done a great job of offering it in pristine condition. Their usual extras of a music & effects track and the theatrical trailer are on hand as well. As with all of their other releases this is limited to just 3,000 copies so if you want your Allen collection to be complete pick one up soon.

tylergee005 This movie had that kind of Allen spirit that you come to expect. I thought it could've been one of his best, but unfortunately there is one thing that ruins the whole picture for me....Diane Keaton. She may be the single worst actor I've ever seen. She says absolutely nonsensical quips, always interrupting, stuttering, looking and acting completely too focused-unnatural. It's quite obvious that she, and everyone, is having to improvise certain parts of their lines, and she just cannot in any way, shape or form pull it off. To such a degree that it's completely distracting and off-putting in every scene she's in. Once you notice just how awkward and unnatural she acts/sounds, you'll never look at it the same. And it single handily ruined the movie for me. Now the plot is also a bit thin which I normally wouldn't fault on it's own, but it instead mainly relied on the back and forth of Allen and Keaton, which as you can imagine, was completely unbearable at times. And the camera work at certain parts (not the zooms, I quite liked those) was a bit odd, again staying far away, relying on the whole group or characters to be in shot while they stumble around trying to get hired at a 3rd rate improve club. But there's still some enjoyment to be had with this picture. Perhaps in Allen wasn't starting in it it'd be a 3, but I'm always so intrigued by him while he's on screen.

gavin6942 A middle-aged couple (Woody Allen and Diane Keaton) suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.You know, how many films can you do about loving New York starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton? Apparently a fair amount, as this film is one more on the pile -- and it is a pile of winners. Sure, you have Zach Braff's film debut that probably never should have happened, but that is forgivable.Who killed the neighbor? Why? Did anyone kill her? And then, is she even dead? This truly is a mystery, with ample amounts of comedy thrown in. And, because it is Woody humor, it is brilliant with its blend of easy jokes and more intellectual jabs (such as the reference to invading Poland while listening to Wagner).

ElMaruecan82 After 20 years of marriage, and with one son in college, Larry (Woody Allen) and Carol Lipton (Diane Keaton) try to accommodate with each other's interests, and from the very first hilarious exchanges, we get the point on how dramatically opposed they happen to be. To give you an idea, Larry loves watching ice hockey games while Carol prefers to listen to Wagner; she loves Manhattan's nightlife while he'd rather watch the midnight movie in bed. The differences between Carol and Larry get more obvious when they meet Mr. and Mrs. House (Jerry Adler and Lynn Cohen), an old couple living in the same floor. In a remarkably dialog-driven sequence, we feel Carol's enthusiasm to have an extra-time for socializing and Larry's impatience to live and stop enduring Mr. House's collection of stamps. At the end, we're not that surprised by the following discussion about the path their life is taking, their mutual attraction and all that marital existentialism. They have a dinner with friends in the following scene which feels like a reminiscence of "Manhattan", which is not surprising since the setting is one of the film's three titular 'M'. We learn that Carol wants to open a restaurant, Larry believes it's a foolish decision to take so late in life, yet one of their recently divorced friends Ted (Alan Alda) encourages her. We get it; Larry enjoys his life's pacific serenity while Carol desperately looks for a new meaning before it's too late. Many couples face that situation where the ambitions and goals in life suddenly differ, but Allen handles this material with a less polemical tone than the previous "Husbands and Wives" as if he was tired of hostile arguments. He leaves more room for Ted, whose adventurous temperament fits Carol's thirst for newness, not without feeling jealous about that. It's a pivotal, even crucial moment in Carol and Harry's marital life.Yet the title doesn't lie on the film's premise: it's a mysterious crime that will shatter their boring routine. Speaking of the mystery, if the previous scene where they meet the friendly Houses' couple reminded me of "Rosemary's Baby" when Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes met the Castevets, I was even more struck by the plot's similarities when after a night out, Carol and Larry discovers that Mrs. House died of a heart attack. Much more, Mr. House looked unusually cheerful and not too much distraught by the loss of the woman he spent 28 years and planned to be buried with in a twin-cemetery, raising Carol's suspicion. "She had a heart condition," he says, Carol insists that Mrs. House never mentioned that. At that point, we know what she's about, she smells something fishy and whether she's right or wrong matters less than that she finally found an opportunity to live some thrills. And the difference of attitudes between Carol and Larry is the film's comedic basis.Indeed, the conflict between Carol who wants to go further and Larry who wants her to stop, will originate one of Woody Allen's funniest lines: "Is that what you do when I'm forbidding? I'm not going to forbid you a lot, if you do". The greatest delight of "Manhattan Murder Mystery" relies on the way its intricate plot contributes to enrich the human relationships involved in the resolution and vice versa. Carol's amateurish investigation, her growing complicity with Ted, and Larry's clumsy attempts to help her after he understands that his marriage is in peril, are magnificently portrayed. And all these interactions culminate with the help of Marcia Fox, played by a scene-stealing Angelica Huston, a dark and sensual authoress and professional poker-player, so intuitive that she'll even steal Carol's thunder in the crime- solving process, and fascinate both Ted and Larry. As a counterpart to Carol's personality, like Ted for Larry, Marcia Fox will also teach Carol a few things about the word 'jealousy'. After, "Husbands and Wives", a powerful social commentary about marital relationships and an opportunity for Woody Allen to exorcise all the demons resulting from the custody battle with Mia Farrow, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" feels like a moment of pure refreshment. If it's not the best of Woody Allen's rich filmography, not nominated for a Best Original Screenplay or Best Supporting Acting Oscar (while it deserved some accolades) it's still extremely enjoyable and delivers what we'd expect from Woody Allen. And the main pillar of this enjoyment is definitely Diane Keaton's comeback and her incredible chemistry with Woody Allen. Indeed, I have much admiration to Mia Farrow, and she'll be forever associated with some of Allen's greatest achievements, but there has always been a sort of inner sweetness in Farrow that confined to poignancy and even sometimes to pathos, and this characteristic reaches a paroxysm in "Husbands and Wives" where not only her character, but the actress herself looked both unhappy, embodying the marital conflict that was poisoning their lives. Woody Allen said "Mia likes to do funny things, but she's not as broad a comedian as Diane is", although I don't approve the manner but I have to agree with the director, Mia Farrow is fine but as far as comedy is concerned, Diane Keaton has that little sparkle that makes all the difference. Yes, we have the New York middle-class lifestyle, the intellectual discussions with the couples of friends, Allen's neurotic personality ("a dead body and claustrophobia, a neurotic's jackpot"), his distaste for Wagner, a compositor who gives him the "urge to invade Poland" and the whole romantic twists and commentaries on men and women's relationships, all the ingredients for a great Allen's film are here but Diane Keaton is the icing on the cake.And believe me, she's for more than three quarters in what make "Manhattan Murder Mystery" such a delicious pastry, reminding us how a great chemistry she always had with Woody Allen, hell, even when they argue, they're hilarious.