2015-12-30

20151230: Comedy Review--Play It Again Sam





Name: Play It Again, Sam (1972)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Allan Felix, Diane Keaton as Linda Christie, Tony Roberts as Dick Christie, Jerry Lacy as Humphrey Bogart, Susan Anspach as Nancy, Jennifer Salt as Sharon, Joy Bang as Julie, Viva as Jennifer.

Directed by: Herbert Ross.  Written by:  Woody Allen (theatre play and screenplay).


The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: At the very front of the film is an extended clip from the tail end of Casablanca (1942).  If you are aiming to see Play It Again, Sam I would suggest seeing Casablanca first, if you have not already.  That parting scene is close to the heart of neurotic movie critic Allan, who lives in San Francisco.

The film soon jumps to the reality of Allan's wife leaving him.  Allan's involvement with Casablanca spills over into his life as the waking hallucination of Bogart giving him advice for his many problems.  No one else sees Bogart, of course.

Delineation of conflicts:  Allan's arguments with his ex wife are largely over, but she comes back to bite him now and then.  Allan tries to re-enter the dating scene with the help of close friend Dick Christie and wife Linda Christie.  These attempts run counter to Allan's lack of confidence, urge to impress by fakery, and need to make clever comments over making progress.  Bogart's suggestions make sense for Bogart, but not so much for Allan.

As the dating failures mount, Allan and Linda have a growing sense of attraction.  Linda is married to Dick, and Dick is Allan's best friend, so how can this work?

Resolution: The film comes full circle.

One line summary: Humphrey Bogart advises Woody Allen.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 7/10 Wow, a Woody Allen film not set in NYC!  Then again, Herbert Ross was directing.  The visuals were more pleasing than I expected.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was well-chosen.

  c. Acting: 8/10 I liked the three leads.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 This was from the funny era of Woody Allen films, and I got quite a few good laughs out of this one.  The dating failures and the recurrent reading of telephone numbers by Tony Roberts were my favourite gags, and the level of wit was fairly nice.

Final rating: 8/10 I was looking for funny, and I found it.


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