Crimes & Misdeamenors

CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS (15)

D: Woody Allen

Orion (Robert Greenhut)

US 🇺🇸 1989

104 mins

Drama/Comedy

W: Woody Allen

DP: Sven Nykvist

Ed: Susan E. Morse

Woody Allen (Cliff Stern), Alan Alda (Lester), Martin Landau (Judah Rosenthal), Mia Farrow (Halley Reed), Anjelica Huston (Dolores Paley), Jerry Orbach (Jack Rosenthal), Sam Waterston (Ben)

I’ve always found Woody Allen’s films quite hit & miss, and while I wouldn’t consider his 1989 offering, Crimes & Misdemeanors, a bonafide hit, it is arguably his best film of the 1980s, presenting two separate, but interweaving stories of crumbling marriages and infidelity.

Allen stars himself, but it’s the supporting cast that have the more interesting characters and performances.  Woody plays Cliff Stern, a documentary filmmaker who begrudgingly accepts a job making a film about his brother-in-law, an arrogant TV executive, and subsequently has an affair with that film’s producer (played by Mia Farrow).

Meanwhile, an esteemed ophthalmologist, Judah Rosenthal, is blackmailed by his mistress that he has to confess all about their affair, leading Rosenthal to make some challenging choices over how to reconcile everything so his wife doesn’t find out.

Allen pretty much plays his usual neurotic stencil character again here, which gives ample chance for the supporting cast to shine, with Martin Landau the clear standout, but Anjelica Huston & Alan Alda are also fantastic.

Not quite my favourite Woody Allen project, but it’s in my personal top 10 of his works.

7/10