| | | Love stings.
Features: DVD
Woody Allen writes, directs and stars in his latest comedy, also starring Dan Akroyd, Elizabeth Berkley, Academy Award winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), Brian Markinson, Wallace Shawn, David Ogden Stiers and Charlize Theron. Allen stars as CW Briggs, the top insurance investigator in New York in 1940--or so he keeps telling the firm's new efficiency expert, Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt). Briggs prides himself on being able to crack any insurance caper by getting into the mind of the thief, but now, thanks to the hypnotic powers of the Jade Scorpion, the mind of the thief is getting into Briggs.
"...Allen creates a world that's easy to inhabit." Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"A comic gem!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...Allen's curse is still better than most directors' blessings." Leslie Katz, San Francisco Examiner
Editor's Note
Woody Allen's funny, frantic THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION is part screwball romantic comedy, part 1940s noir detective story, and part ingenious heist film. Allen stars as C.W. Briggs, a set-in-his-ways old-time insurance investigator who refuses to get along with the bright new efficiency expert, Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt), brought in to streamline his office's operations. Their back-and-forth bickering is reminiscent of the interplay between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. When a magician, played by the always excellent David Ogden Stiers, hypnotizes them as part of his stage act, Briggs unknowingly becomes a jewel thief while falling in and out of love with the exceedingly more confused Fitz, who is carrying on a secret affair with the married head of the company (Dan Aykroyd). Mayhem ensues as a pair of brother detectives zero in on the criminal, a sexy debutante comes on to Briggs, and Briggs and Fitz start suspecting each other. Production designer Santo Loquasto, who has been working with Allen for more than twenty years, once again has created beautiful sets, and the soundtrack, featuring such 1940s jazz treasures as Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington, is simply splendid.
| Features | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Production Notes | | Cast And Filmmaker Bios |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Dreamworks (Universal) |
| Release Date: 4/12/2005 |
| Running Time: 102 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2001 | | Catalog ID: 89268 | | UPC: 00667068926828 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...The sixty-five year old filmmaker continues to practice his craft with consistent artistic aplomb....JADE SCORPION is definitely the date movie of choice..." 08/30/2001 p.132Variety
"...There isn't a moment here that lapses out of period....Theron provides sultry atmospherics, as does a fine supporting cast..." 08/13/2001 p.43-52 New York Times
"...Impressively meticulous....The film is a ready-made high-end collectible....[It] flatters the good taste of everyone involved....[With] lovely moments of humorous invention..." 08/24/2001 p.E1 USA Today
"...Santo Loquasto's exquisite period detail, in dreamy shades of gold, brown and orange, is perfection down to the glassware and wall calendars..." 08/24/2001 p.6E Box Office
"...There's enough good fun in its zinger lines and clever plot twists to recommend it..." 10/01/2001 p.58-9 Sight and Sound
"...The plot rattles along, the music pumps nicely, the hypnotist hypnotises, the misunderstandings mount, and a legion of Woody Allen fans will most likely count themselves happy..." 01/01/2003 p.39-40 The New York Times 7 of 10
The film is a ready-made high-end collectible, a charming trifle that flatters the good taste of everyone involved: the cast, the audience and, not least, the writer-director. - A.O. Scott
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