Review of Deconstructing Harry (1997) by Ronald S — 31 Jul 2010

As you've probably noticed, I've been on a bit of a Woody Allen kick recently. I realized that there were still quite a few of his films I had yet to see and I want to try and rectify that. This films goes to show that even in the late 90s, Woody still had it.

I'm just putting this out there, but I love Woody as an actor. His movies are better to me when he's the one spouting off the dialogue. With this film, Allen provides layers to not only different characters, but to himself. Once again, he writes himself into his own film and the script sort of shows the side effects of doing such a thing. I'm sure the things happening to Harry Block in the movie happened to Woody in real life. People would get mad that he would write them into movies and would reveal their secrets and true nature to the world. I fear I'm going to get into similar trouble someday.

What I love most about this film is, as the title suggests, watching Harry be deconstructed. We see these stories he has written, representing different parts of his life, and these fictional stories tell the most truth. It's funny, Allen says something along the lines of liking to be able to escape the real world by writing his fiction. However, in his fiction, all he's doing is writing about the real world. I love how the real world is disjointed with jump cuts and the stories play straight without a cut at all. It's almost like we're seeing the world from Harry's point of view; a disjointed mess that he can only escape when he writes. The problem is he just got his first case of writer's block.

Unlike Manhattan and even Annie Hall, this film is filled with several belly laughs. The idea of Woody Allen traveling to his old school to be honored with a hooker, an old pal, and his son left me in stitches, especially the scene where they're all singing together. Another favorite moment of mine is when his psychiatrist wife just found out Harry was screwing one of her patients. She's currently in session with someone as she keeps leaving to yell at Harry. Before we cut to the next scene, she urges the patient she's in session with to continue (this big, bald man), and right before the cut, he begins to weep. It's HILARIOUS! A really great moment I had to pause the movie for in order to catch my breath.

I love Woody and this film is a great example why.