1994 comedy
Rating: 15/20
Plot: A playwright might have a hit on his hands if the mob stays out of his way.
It took me a bit to warm up to John Cusack, one of my two favorite Cusacks, in this, probably not helped by the character being a little unlikably full of himself. I like a conversation he's having in a cafe with some snooty artist friends early in this when one mentions a painter that creates one piece of artwork a week and then immediately destroys it. I'm not sure Woody Allen is saying that art should only be made for an audience consisting of the artist and nobody else, but I do think he's probably saying something about an artist being true to himself during that creation process and how there are all sorts of outside forces that can get in the way.
Cusack's character has his motivations mixed up in the early goings, but I like the conflicts his character endures as he tries to get his vision on stage. There's his inability to write realistic female characters, his own ego, issues with his girlfriend (played by the spunky Mary-Louise Parker), a developing infatuation with the actress played by with this great artificial gravitas by Dianne Wiest, the influence of mob money and the insistence on the untalented ditz played by Jennifer Tilly getting a part, forced compromises, his own nerves and insecurities. What I liked most about the story was about how gradually, it becomes more of a story belonging to Cheech, the thug sent by Tilly's mafioso boyfriend to make sure everything is on the up and up.
It's easy but fun to put pieces together to see that Allen might very well be criticizing the industry as Cusack's character's voice is systematically sucked out of this production and replaced by the voices of others. It would all be pretty depressing if it wasn't for a climactic epiphany and the breezy kind of tone created when every actor is playing a caricature. There are varying results, but Tilly is as funny as I've ever seen her and maybe as funny as a character that irritating can possibly be. She brings it right to that line but doesn't cross it. Wiest, Jim Broadbent, and Chazz Palminteri are also really good. Allen gives us mob killings accompanied by pop-jazz numbers and a great death scene that make up for the fact that Cusack's character starts narrating via a diary at one point.
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