Review of Zelig (1983) by Kenneth B — 17 May 2012

At his best Woody Allen is a genius as evidenced here. Zelig is a 'mockumentary' which probably owes a lot to Allen's own Take the Money and Run. It's probably more overt in terms of the faux-documentary style than Allen's earlier film and it really seems to take joy in the inversion of the general conventions of the genre.

Importantly the idea, which early on doesn't really seem to have the legs to last for 85 minutes, is realised in such an inventive manner that it doesn't become tiresome, in fact the opposite happens.

Zelig is also very funny, in fact at this point it may have been his funniest film since the mid-seventies and Love and Death.