Review of The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) by Samuel C — 12 May 2012

One Allen film w/o himself or one of his numerous doppelgangers, which is a clue that here is a subject that is finally larger than Allen: his love of movies, that he freely shares with movie fans everywhere.

So he takes one of the movie fan's most cherished desire (" ... I wish I could be there ... or that here was like there ...") and plays with it a little. Mia Farrow plays us, the fan, is our doppelganger, and the movies are a) better than real life, and b) but not real life.

One of the better Allen films, Farrow's contented gazing at the screen too brief to be iconic, but it should be ...