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4/1/2001
Bullets Over Broadway
In this Woody Allen movie, John Cusack plays an idealistic playwright, David Shayne, during the 1920's. He is having trouble getting financing for his latest play. The necessary money finally comes from an unlikely source, a local mobster.
The mobster will give Shayne all the money he needs on one condition, that his floozy girlfriend must play the title character. Shayne reluctantly agrees to cast the gangster's girlfriend, a brilliantly obnoxious Jennifer Tilly as Olive. The rest of the cast is not only put-off by the casting of Olive but also the arty-snobbish dialogue of the play.
Shayne is set in his ways and will not rewrite the script. Then one day during rehearsals, Cheech speaks up. Cheech, played by Chazz Palmentieri, is the bodyguard hired to keep an eye on Olive at all times during rehearsals. At first Shayne refuses any help from Cheech, but eventually realizes that this hood actually has good ideas on how to rework the play.
They have a perfect partnership, Cheech rewrites the play but Shayne takes all the credit. This way Shayne looks like a genius but Cheech can keep his street-cred intact while watching his creation be successful. At one point, a Cheech's suggestion for improving the play becomes laughable in its outrageousness. But I don't want to give too much away.
The movie was written and directed by Woody Allen and has to go down as one of his best in the last 20 years. Cusack is strong but overshadowed by the performances of Palmienteri and Dianne Wiest, who plays a self-indulgant almost has-been trying to hang on to her sinking career. It is a definite departure for Wiest, who is usually given the super-sweet Mom role, that deserved the Academy Award she received.
This movie features an all-around good cast in a wonderful setting of 1920's New York City. The first 20 minutes are a little tedious but the rest of the movie is well paced and wonderfully done.
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