# For those who don't like Woody Allen movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324 "2008-02-12T20:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/41 "2008-04-30T23:51:19Z")
Nope, doesn’t make me not dislike him. I read Mia Farrow’s book. The guy isn’t ever getting off my “asshole” list. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/42 "2008-04-30T23:52:59Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] There are women in porn who are just as hot as Scarlet and Penelope. [/QUOTE] No, no there aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/43 "2008-05-01T00:13:57Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] No, no there aren’t. [/QUOTE] I think Scarlett Johansson is one of the sexiest and most beautiful women I’ve ever seen… but she has some stiff competition (no pun intended) out there in adult film land. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/44 "2008-05-01T00:46:20Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Scarlett Johansson is possibly the most overrated (looks and talent-wise) celebrity, ever. Sounds like a waste of what could’ve been a hot Penelope Cruz scene. [/QUOTE] What?! That’s _crazy_ talk, man. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/45 "2008-05-01T01:02:03Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] No, but she [Bo Derek] was rather famously considered a [10](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078721/). Which I think is overstating things somewhat. [/QUOTE] Well, keep in mind the “10” had nothing to do with acting talent. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/46 "2008-05-01T01:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] No, no there aren’t. [/QUOTE] Yeah there sure are. Porn is not the bleached-blonde fake titted world that it was a decade ago. There are girls, amateur and pro, in the business now who look just as hot as any mainstream actress. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/47 "2008-05-01T01:18:49Z")
I like Scarlett. And I like that she’s coming out with a Tom Waits cover album. That is _ **HOT** _, [even if the covers aren’t that great. YMMV of course.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkRbJc2I88s) Plus… WHAT DID BILL MURRAY SAY TO HER DAMMIT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/48 "2008-05-01T01:56:09Z")
Early Allen was a lot of fun, but I think the last Woody Allen movie that I loved was **Manhattan**. I was just blown away by it. **Hannah and Her Sisters** was okay. And I liked **Mighty Aphrodite** – mainly because of Mira Sorvino. In many movies after that, the improvised stuff sounds shallow, derivative and cutsey-quirky. I finally quit watching his films. I hate to miss Bardem (who is a hunkahunka burning love) but I’m sorry, **ArchiveGuy** , but Allen sounds desperate. I will miss the days of really creative things like **Zelig** ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/49 "2008-05-01T03:26:37Z")
Zelig is the only Woody Allen movie I will watch anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/50 "2008-05-01T03:29:40Z")
The wife and I are big Woody Allen fans. And he’s just been raised in my estimation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/51 "2008-05-01T03:31:55Z")
I may be a unrefined brute but I can not watch one of his movies even if it means I have a chance with the fairer sex. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/52 "2008-05-01T05:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Would it make a difference if it were two men? What if it were a masturbation scene or a lingering shower scene? [/QUOTE] Tell me I’m not the only one who read this as “fingering shower scene.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/53 "2008-05-01T05:49:29Z")
Lingerie shower scene maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/54 "2008-05-01T17:17:29Z")
Scarlett alone was enough to make me watch both Scoop and Match Point, I don’t see how this will be any different. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/55 "2008-05-01T19:53:28Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] At least Scarlett Johansson has some decent performances in **Ghost World** and **Lost in Translation** going for her. Even if she did nothing but straight-to-DVD crap for the rest of her life, she’s still far ahead of anything Derek ever did. [/QUOTE] I would add her brief turn in _The Prestige_ and her starring role in the woefully-underrated [_Girl with a Pearl Earring_.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/) That latter film is a hidden gem, more than making up for the junk she’s been stuck in recently (_The Island, The Nanny Diaries, The Other Boleyn Gril_). [QUOTE=Zoe] Early Allen was a lot of fun, but I think the last Woody Allen movie that I loved was Manhattan. I was just blown away by it. Hannah and Her Sisters was okay. And I liked Mighty Aphrodite – mainly because of Mira Sorvino. In many movies after that, the improvised stuff sounds shallow, derivative and cutsey-quirky. I finally quit watching his films. [/quote] That’s a shame; though there’s been plenty of “shallow, derivative and cutsey-quirky” in his later work (_Husbands and Wives, Deconstructing Harry_) the aforementioned _Crimes and Misdemeanors_, the adventurous musical _Everyone Says I Love You_, and the quiet treasure _Radio Days_ compare favorably with his work in the '70s-early '80s. And although I was not as big a fan as some with _Match Point_, I thought it was the best film he’s done in quite a while, though that’s a pretty low bar with contenders like _Hollywood Ending_). But even when bad, he’s always interesting. Some never get past the man’s off-screen problems and his peculiar artiness, and I really can’t think of a director of similar reputation who has made as high a percentage of bad films (sure Hitchcock had clinkers like _The Parradine Case_, but these are routinely explained as due to forces outside his control; Allen’s films, good or bad, are wholly his own). That’s OK–_de gustibus non est disputandum_–but I don’t think anyone can seriously deny he has earned his distinction as one of the few true giants of film. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/56 "2008-05-01T20:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] It’s been a long time since Allen made a movie that wasn’t basically produced to get his own rocks off. [/QUOTE] [shrug] A fairly succinct definition of artistic integrity. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/57 "2008-05-01T23:00:24Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] Well, keep in mind the “10” had nothing to do with acting talent. [/QUOTE] I dunno know, it could be argued that she was enormously talented in 10. Anyhoo, I mostly only like his movies when he doesn’t get in front of the camera. I thought **bullets over broadway** was great for example. As far as the OP goes, maybe, maybe not. The proposed scene could be worth the price of admission, doesn’t mean it will be ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/58 "2008-06-18T18:17:30Z")
The film’s reviews were decidedly mixed at Cannes, but the [one-sheet](http://www.cinematical.com/media/2008/06/vcbver21.jpg) may be the best this year. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324/59 "2008-06-18T18:28:21Z")
Haven’t seen a Woody Allen film in 15-20 years. Then out of shear boredom I rented **The Curse of The Jade Scorpion**. Laughed my butt off! Go figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-like-woody-allen-movies/437324.md?page=2)