Manhattan Murder Mystery

Three Stars
Woody Allen, Dianne Keaton, Alan Alda

I'm not much a fan of Woody Allen films but Manhattan Murder Mystery incorporates enough elements from other film to make it palateable. Not knowing if it was Allen's intention to do so, I am impressed with how much this film mirrors Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Rear Window" without being a simple reprisal. The first half the film bears many of the elelments from Hitchcock's tale of voyerism and suspicion but Allen takes the film to another level, adding a second, yet intertwined mystery and a cunning attempt by our investigating band of friends to take the law into thier own hands.

We see Allen's directorial hand in this film though as well as his writing style. His flare for telling a story of relationships from an almost documentery-esque, second person style comes through in spades and almost spoiled this fun mystery for me, but I must admit, it did give a new dimension to the mystery genre formula and I think added a whif of freshness to the age old murder story.

A fabulous storyline bolstered by outstanding character protrayls and some whitty humor make this a mystery movie worth seeing.