Comments on: Woody’s World

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:54:29 +0000

Whew! First time this month!

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:49:43 +0000

By Jove, you’re right!

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:20:37 +0000

Well, he had that fixation in the 70s, didn’t he? Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan, for one.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:55:34 +0000

I wonder if he would have cast a young girl opposite Mostel in the 70s, or if this is the mature Woody fixation at play.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:22:07 +0000

Yeah, I like Sayles’ movies, too … but this wasn’t a very good one, at least from a writing standpoint … it was beautifully shot on location, however …

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:49:19 +0000

Rick, I can certainly believe that Clarkson’s character probably bears no relationship whatsoever to real Southern women, but I thought she was good enough and funny enough to transcend Allen’s script.

And that’s a drag about Sayles. I like his films a lot – I’m disappointed that he apparently screwed that one up.(Haven’t seen it, but not sure I want to now.)

By: Rick

Rick — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:59:18 +0000

Pat, Clarkson is one of my favorite actors — I’ve been known to call her the Queen of the Indies (along with Cathernine Keener) — but she was over-the-top in this one. I think it was the script, and Allen must have encouraged her to play the part like that. Unfortunately, she was like no Southern woman I’ve ever met, and I’ve met — and know — a lot.

I think she represented what a lot of folks from outside the region imagine Southerners are … overly-religious, blond and stupid. I know — I’m originally from Seattle, and I used to think that way myself.

Another filmmaker I really admire — John Sayles — came to Alabama and made a film called Honeydripper, about African American life centered around a juke joint in the fifties. I saw it here in town with Sayles present, and I really wanted to like it, but it was filled with the most blatant, Weezy-Jefferson stereotypes I’ve ever seen. He’d obviously spent no real time among Southern black people, and ended up re-enforcing a stereotype many Southerners have of the pointy-headed Northern liberal who just doesn’t get it.

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:24:38 +0000

Rick – gotta agree with you about Larry David in this one (and,coincidentally,I just re-watched this over the holiday weekend). He’s a funny guy, but he’s not really an actor, and he doesn’t pull this off. Watching it the second time, I could really see Zero Mostel in the part and imagine how much better it would have been. But I thought Patricia Clarkson single-handedly saved the movie. When she showed up in the film’s second act, it was like someone opened a window and let the fresh air and sunshine in. I didn’t laugh once up till that point, but then I (and every other member of my family who watched with me) laughed at almost everything Clarkson said and did from that point on.

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:56:07 +0000

Danny, Evan Rachel Wood was actually pretty good in this. For that, if you’re so inclined, it might be worth a rental.

By: Danny K.

Danny K. — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:13:59 +0000

I never made a real effort to see this film mostly because of the negative reviews I’ve read, such as this one. I was looking forward to this as well for Larry David — I love him on Curb Your Enthusiasm — and I was intrigued to see Evan Rachel Wood in a more lighthearted, comedic role. After her brutally emotional turns in Thirteen and The Wrestler, this seems like an interesting role for her. I might rent this one regardless just to see it for myself.