Review of The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) by Jose M — 25 Jul 2011

Another intelligently written film that sees Woody Allen bend the rules of the by-the-numbers period romance. An unhappily married waitress living in the Great Depression (Mia Farrow) is courted by a fictional character (Jeff Daniels) who walks out of the movie screen and into the real world.

Eventually, Hollywood studio executives get wind of the incident, and send the actual actor that portrayed the character to retreive his creation, and herd him back into the movie screen. It's a movie that highlights the cinematic experience as an escape from reality, and as a buffer against the adversities we face in our own lives; it also serves a caveat to people who lose themselves so thoroughly in fiction, that it begins to become more real to them than their own lives.

This is just a fun, lighthearted little movie, but be advised, there is no happy ending.