A real curio from Allen: at times it feels like he cobbled it together from left over bits out of other scripts, or sketches he never used – it’s mostly a collection of a lot of incidents (I recognised one gag, getting an elevator down to Hell, from an original Annie Hall script). It’s also more bawdy and vulgar than his usual work: harsh swear words, sex scenes. The lead character is darker than Woody’s normal type – while he has the usual concerns about work, sex, aging, and health, doesn’t like marijuana, and sleeps with hookers, he’s also a pill popping alcoholic (something Woody didn’t normally play). It’s totally a role that Woody didn’t have to do himself (indeed I remember it being a little odd seeing him talk about what a boozer he was on screen because he normally played characters who weren’t) and a shame that Elliot Gould never got a go to play it.
Some of it feels like left over Hannah and Her Sisters (man cheats on his wife with his wife’s sister, man has affair with adoring student who leaves him for another old man because he’s too cold, person writes material based on family which causes stress). But it's often hilarious (eg actor who is out of focus), the pieces are thematically unified, the central characterisation is strong... it formed the basis of what would be Allen's last decent film in a long time.
It's also fascinating to imagine how autobiographical this is at this particular point in his life: the self-loathing, a pushy wife who he cheated on and sent crazy, obsession with sex, falling for a much younger woman, an out of control life.
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