Elisabeth Shue Movie:

Editorial Review:
Woody Allen roared back at his detractors with Deconstructing Harry, a bitterly funny treatise about the creative process. Known to mine his often tumultuous personal life for his movies, the embattled writer-director-star didn't bother to make his alter ego likable in this movie: Harry Block (Allen) pops pills, frequents prostitutes, and cheats on the women in his life, then writes about their foibles in thinly disguised fiction. No wonder they're all furious with him. As Harry journeys to his alma mater with a hooker, ill pal, and kidnapped son, a series of flashbacks unravel, juxtaposing Harry's relationships with their "slightly exaggerated" fictional counterparts. There are amusing cameos throughout, including a humorous turn by Demi Moore as a fictitious ex-wife who "became Jewish with a vengeance," and Billy Crystal as the devil who found Hollywood too nasty for his liking. The humor is dark and caustic, but well worth it; Deconstructing Harry is a near-brilliant mediation on the sometimes queasy relationship between art, creator, and critic. --Diane Garrett

Deconstructing Harry [Region 2] Reviews:
Why I love Woody Allen
2009-03-11 - I love love LOVE this film. Again, Woody Allen provides some sense of security to those who are disillusioned about their own lives as he is. If Tragedy is the mother of Humor, Allen is the baby daddy, and this film is proof.

Deconstructing Harry Rocks
2009-01-06 - This movie is simply the best self-parody ever done. In the poetry world I'm sometimes sneered at because self-parody is considered self-indulgent, usually by pinchy-faced critic types as opposed to the people who don't mind seeing the whole truth, whether that truth allows someone to be egotistical or not. So, predictably, critics were a bit snarly about Woody's new level of self-indulgence. In fact, the first time I saw the movie, I too was a bit upset about it, (and I'm not a literary snob).

In fact, after all these years, it turns out the film is raw talent and genius with some of the funniest romantic-horror-comedy scenes of all time. The highlights of the movie are quite simply two scenes. The first is the argument between Woody and Judy Davis, a real high-energy scene, complete with harrowing action. But the apex of the film is the final conflict between Kirstie Alley and Woody, which is just the best couples' argument scene that has ever been produced. Woody is good in the scene in that he keeps interjecting jokes in what should be a deathly serious thing, and he plays the "calm abuser," a type toward whom I have much bitterness, brilliantly. But it is Kirstie Alley who gives simply the best performance of her life in this scene. She is both frighteningly angry, in a way that is completely believable and yet she does hilarious things.

Of course he ongoing dialogue with his Jewish roots is very evident, and the conflict he has with his Judaic Fundamentalist sister and her similarly-oriented husband is classic.

Oh yeah, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a brief appearance that is sheer slapstick. She really is very funny and very sexy in this movie. Woody often disproves the critics, who by the way need to be disproved and mocked at every turn, when he takes actors that have been pigeon-holed by the critics and proves that they are great actors in their own right and, in fact, very convincing in diverse roles. (I'm a left-winger, but so are most of the movie critics. However, my form of leftiness doesn't include this "debunking" of people's careers or art. There is just some cynical urge in the critics to box people in, and it comes off practically like an edict or some authoritarian impulse. Sorry about the political note, but I sometimes have to take my fellow liberals to task, since conservatives do not have a corner on the market of pettiness.)

And, of course, we can never forget how wonderful it is when Woody takes a trip to Hell itself, which, it turns out, is ruled over by Bill Crystal, for subconscious reasons the movie itself will make clear). You never saw a Satan more comfortable in his own skin. The dialogue is funny and perverse, and a bit x-rated, so I can't quote much of it here, but it's some solid locker-room filth delivered by two men in suits looking quite classy as they do it. All of the contrasts here are excellent.

And, throughout the movie, as one who loves Woody would insist, the Psychoanalytic and Atheistic world view as they play out in their journeys through the subconscious and the conscious mind are sheer mythological and philosophical wonders. (I myself and not an Atheist, and am in fact very religious, but I really believes every belief system, including those differing from mine, have something great to give. In truth, Woody would agree with me in saying, whether or not there's a God, most people can't be trusted with religion, as the current wars display all too well. So I'm not at all hostile to Atheists, since they are usually more trustworthy than their spiritual counterparts, and I'm secure in my own spiritual feelings, so none of this threatens me.)

Now, if you are a person whose life is held together, and about to break apart, but not for a thin thread of romantic and philosophical constructs, this movie might not be for you. The first time I saw this movie, I wasn't strong enough to handle the truth of it. (This is very much a "you can't handle the truth" movie.) I have beliefs, but I'm not addicted to them. However, if you need to be right most of the time and you NEED to have your beliefs validated, you may want to skip this film. It's for folks who can be hit with the whole truth of their romantic and philosophical condition.

A wonderfully constructed comedy that helps us deconstruct ourselves...
2008-09-25 - Getting to know Woody Allen's filmography as of late has been a real trip, and while there have been some misses for me, for the most part I have become a real fan of his work. `Deconstructing Harry' may very well be one of my favorites. The film is an uproarious look at the struggle one makes to create something, about the fact that fiction truly imitates life and that life, in its rawest of forms, is truly remarkable.

Woody Allen stars as Harry Block, a famous writer who is suffering from a serious case of writers block. While he's struggling with this artistic roadblock he is also presented with the honor of being the center of a University tribute, as the school that once threw him out wants to give him an award. Now, more than ever, Harry is faced with his own slew of insecurities as he contemplates why no one in his life likes him. As he struggles to find someone to accompany him to his awards ceremony he realizes that the decisions he has made in life has segregated him from those he loves, or at one time loved. He's been unfaithful to every wife he's ever had and has single-handedly destroyed the reputations of his family, friends and lovers in his novels. No one can stand him and this forces Harry to reach down inside himself to find the reasons why.

The process he uses is what really makes this film so unbelievable good.

Telling the story of his life through a series of short stories he in fact wrote, Harry exposes his inner feelings through characters based on himself and others around him. He explores his romantic relationships and his countless infidelities; his feelings on marriage and loyalty and even success. He tackles his views on religion and culture and family, all of which help construct (or deconstruct) this man from the inside out.

The film is littered with countless supporting actors who just devour the screenplay that Woody delivers to them with such conviction and comedic excellence. Even actors who have very small roles (Robin Williams) make the most of their limited screen time to deliver performances that elevate the films core. Billy Crystal and Elizabeth Shue are phenomenal and Demi Moore and Bob Balaban (of Christopher Guest fame) are both scene stealers. The real standout here, aside from Woody himself, is Kirstie Alley who just dominates as Harry's ex-wife Joan. She has only a few scenes, and in each scene she is ranting and yelling and throwing a fit, but that fit is seriously comedic genius, rich with honest emotion and brutal delivery.

The real star of the show is Woody's brilliant script (which really should have won the Oscar) for it is rich with wit and a truism that makes the film so much more effective than your average comedy. Harry Block is far from a likable guy, but underneath it all he is an extremely relatable guy, someone who we can see within ourselves. `Deconstructing Harry' is a smart and successful look at deconstructing ourselves.

a masterpiece
2008-08-16 - One of the funniest movies ever made.

Woody Allen is an acquired taste, like oysters. If you like'm on the half shell, he hit this crustacean out of the lagoon.

The "elevator to hell" bit had me in tears. Pookie the hooker, and the whole crew on the road trip to the university -- well, who else but Woody Allen conjures up this kind of stuff and puts it on film?

Writing, acting, directing...everyone was in synch with Mr. Allen's history, angst, sturm, drang and reputation.

An absolute masterpiece.

Thanks, Woody.

Writer's Block
2008-07-05 - When a writer faces that inevitable bugaboo...writer's block...he reviews his life, trying to examine all his mistakes, character flaws and foibles. His examination is depicted in a fragmented fashion, as if he is truly "deconstructing" his self.

As the final picture emerges, he is in a position to address his past, and in doing so, he is freed to write again.

Fascinating portrayal of the creative process.