Mr Black Finally got to see this gem. As a film, I found it very interesting to watch for technical and directing reasons. I counted one take that was a minute and a-half long of walking through down a street in the city. I've always admired the way Woody Allen can use these long takes to such great advantage. And I admire the actors for managing to pull them off. As I slowly get through the entire Woody Allen library, one by one, I found this film to be a little too Woody Allen a times. Again, someone is going to be introduced to a dentist or a doctor named 'Sy Rubenstein," 'Sol Eplestein' or Juda, or Noah... The whole New York Jewish thing is so predictable in his films. Also, again the dialogue which is just not how people speak - Not even in New York. Will Ferrel's character was like listening to Woody Allen in Annie Hall, except the lines were delivered by someone else. Some of the gags were very good though. Over all I thought the performance were well done, all around. Thought everyone was well suited for the character and they all did a great job. Glad to have it in my Woody Allen collection.

mihkelm1 I liked watching this movie, it's very funny. It provides for a fitful afternoon full of witty dialogue and interesting sequence. The film is definitely original, all of it could've taken place in a theater. The director's done a good job, characters seem to know what they're doing and in general all of it provides a nice evolving story of about 10 people, who are amazingly easy to follow through the different options they have in choosing their partners. Indeed, all the options are pursued in this movie. I liked the way how fast and well all the characters spoke. The film itself is a quite fast-paced one.All in all - it's a romantic comedy. That's what is prevailing, although there are very sad moments.

runamokprods An interesting experiment: telling the same story, intercut, in both comic and serious versions. Lots of striking moments, and some good acting (although Will Ferrell - as much as I'm a fan - trying to be 'serious' didn't really work for me). Also, the bookend device setting up the idea (two writers talking at a restaurant about the differences between comedy and tragedy) is clunky and a little on the nose. Still, a worthwhile attempt to look at how we tell stories, and by extension how we look at life. Allen's later films may not quite be at the level of his early work, but you gotta admire a filmmaker still trying to look at the big questions 40 years into his career.

Kuroel Can't remember an Allen movie I actually liked, but I decided to give this movie a shot nonetheless. The concept was very delightful, but sure enough, Allen is still bad.We all know the usual mannerism of Will Ferrell, but much like every other character in this movie, his delivery was more like an imitation of Allen himself - down to the stuttering. I completely agree with another reviewer who questioned "How many actors can he get to stand in for his own neurotic, compulsive über-New Yorker persona?"Allen's directing style is very distinguished, but I'd say more like repetitive. He's basically producing never ending remakes of the same story with the same characters. The dialogue was horrendous. Wooden clichés sprinkled with occasional fancy words. Hobie considers himself to be an intellect (like all the characters that are projections of Allen) yet he speaks and stutters like a 10-year-old. Then, in the middle of mindless repetitive ramblings where he goes on and on and on about some extremely mundane topic, he throws in a completely random reference to Dostoyevsky or Kieślowski. Wha? Worst thing is - I really think that Woody is giving himself pat on the back for the "ingenious" cultural references. The cinematography wasn't a treat, either. In one of the restaurant scenes the camera sweep was so bad it was painful to watch.Without giving out too much about the ending, the dialogue was so embarrassingly corny, I thought it was a dream sequence until the credits began to roll on the screen. The ending could have been cobbled together by an average 12-year-old fan-fiction writer.