Mighty Aphrodite (1995) - Sorvino soars in funny Allen dramedy

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A Greek-type title font, festive colors and a ridiculous still make up this poster for Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite

Lenny and his wife adopts a child, but as time passes Lenny is struck with curiosity as to the boy's biological heritage. By and by he learns that the mother is a porn actress, whom he now attempts to help.

Mighty Aphrodite is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (What's Up, Tiger Lilly? (1966)), whose 25th feature it is.

The film is an amusing piece of classic Allen for a while; not outstanding but okay. But as it continues it grows funnier, as Allen does his shtick and deals with an outstanding Mira Sorvino (Indiscretion (2016)) as the moving if unintelligent bimbo mother. Later Michael Rapaport (Tom Cool (2009)) is also terrific as a boxer/onion farmer, whom Allen tries to match Sorvino's character with. The idea of the Greek chorus, led by a wonderful F. Murray Abraham (Children of the Revolution (1996)), also grows funnier as time passes.

SPOILER Only Allen gets away with such a blatant Deux-ex-machina solution to his plot as in the ending of Mighty Aphrodite, as Sorvino is swept off her feet by a helicopter pilot. Mighty Aphrodite is a funny story and a warm film.

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Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Match Point (2005) - Allen takes London with pensive thriller hit 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy 

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) or, Manhattan Struggles and Wonders 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 26 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.73 times its cost)

[Mighty Aphrodite premiered 1 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Sorvino reportedly auditioned in New York without getting the part. She then flew to the London audition and went in again, this time in full costume, and won the part. Shooting took place from October - December 1994 in New York, New Jersey and in Italy. The film opened #16 to a 326k $ first weekend in 19 theaters in North America, where it climbed to #11 and 278 theaters, grossing 6.4 mil. $ (24.6 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Sorvino), and losing Best Original Script to The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and 2 David di Donatello awards, won a Golden Globe and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Allen returned with Everyone Says I Love You (1996). As an actor he returned in The Sunshine Boys (1996, TV movie) and theatrically in Everyone Says I Love You; Sorvino in Beautiful Girls (1996). Mighty Aphrodite is fresh at 78 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Mighty Aphrodite?

At First Sight (1999) - Kilmer goes blind in Winkler's awful turkey

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

 

 

The two stars walk around in an out-of-focus New York looking snug on this poster for Irwin Winkler's At First Sight

A blind masseuse massages a woman so deeply that she cries (...), and the two fall in love. She locates the doctor who can operate his sight back, - but it is more important to see with the heart.

 

- In other words, back to being blind. At First Sight is written by Steve Levitt, based on the essay To See and Not See from An Anthropologist on Mars (1995) by Oliver Sacks (Migraine (1970)), in turn based on the true story of Shirl Jennings, and directed by Irwin Winkler (Guilty by Suspicion (1991)).

Nothing works in this lame, intolerable melodrama flunk, which unintentionally inspires roaring laughter a couple of times. The plot nearly feels like the film is a spoof on itself. Canadian jazz singer Diane Krall plays in a scene, and her music is used effectively to make some of the hairy meatball of a film go down a little more smoothly.

Val Kilmer (Gun (2010)) is ridiculous as the blind masseuse; Mira Sorvino (WiseGirls (2002)) is tiring. At First Sight manages to make Nathan Lane (Find Out Why (2000, TV-series)) dull. This is an epic turkey.

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 22.3 mil. $ (North America only)

= Mega-flop (returned 0.37 times its cost in North America)

[At First Sight premiered 12 January (USA) and runs 128 minutes. Kilmer was paid 9 mil. $ for his performance; Sorvino 3 mil. $. Shooting took place from January - April 1998 in New York. The wildly over-budgeted film opened #5, behind Varsity Blues, Patch Adams, A Civil Action and The Thin Red Line, to an 8.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 22.3 mil. $. The international gross numbers are regrettably unreported but almost certainly were unimpressive. If the final gross landed on a likely 30 mil. $, the return would be 0.5 times the cost, and the rank on the cusp of 'merely' huge flop. More than 24.4 mil. $ was reportedly spent additionally to market the film. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Winkler returned with Life As a House (2001). Kilmer returned in Joe the King (1999); Sorvino in Summer of Sam (1999). At First Sight is rotten at 32 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of At First Sight?

The Final Cut (2004) or, Alan 'the Cutter' Hakman

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Robin Williams looks lost and uncomfortable on this inauspicious poster for Omar Naim's The Final Cut

In a future where devices record people's entire lives, Alan is a 'cutter' whose job it is to make uncritical edits of deceased people's lives. But his new, unsavory client gets him into danger.

A team of talented people are involved in this little-seen b-movie. Robin Williams (What Dreams May Come True (1998)) is good in the lead, and the set design, photography (by Tak Fujimoto (Gods Behaving Badly (2013))) and score (by Brian Tyler (Brake (2012))) are all professionally done.
The idea behind The Final Cut is interesting, but unfortunately it results in a rather banal story here. The film is written and directed by Omar Naim (When Simon Sleeps (1999)). It comes off as a somewhat sexless sci-fi thriller, which attempts to raise some issues that it can't quite handle persuasively in the end.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 3.6 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop
[The Final Cut premiered 11 September (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place in British Colombia, Canada and in Berlin, Germany from June - August 2003. The film opened and peaked at #27 to a weak 227k $ first weekend in 117 theaters in North America, where it grossed 548k $ (15.2 % of the total gross). The biggest market was Italy with 1.1 mil. $ (30.5 %). 2nd biggest was Spain with 586k $ (16.3 %). North America was the 3rd biggest. - If the film was made for a very modest 5 mil. $, it should be counted as a huge flop. - It could easily have been higher, in which case it may have actually been a mega-flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Williams returned in House of D (2004). Naim only returned six years hence as co-director of the PBS documentary Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age (2009) and then theatrically with Dead Awake (2010). The Final Cut is rotten at 37 % with a 5.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Final Cut?