Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, David Ogden Stiers, Dan Aykroyd, Charlize Theron
Story rating: 3 discs (out of 4)
Story review: CW Briggs (Allen), a New York insurance investigator, has cracked many cases, but, in Allen‘s inimitable style, is very disorganized. Enter Betty Ann “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Hunt), an uptight efficiency expert, who comes into Briggs’ office to “clean things up.” Sure, these two seem to hate each other, but what are their true feelings? At a party for a colleague, Voltan the hypnotist (Stiers) puts Briggs and Fitz under his spell, and in a clever story device, shows how Briggs and Fitz really feel about one another. But things of course get complicated. First, there’s a sudden string of jewel thefts, where the evidence suspiciously leads to Briggs himself. Then Briggs finds out Fitz is having an affair with the company owner, Chris Magruder (Aykroyd). He could ruin Fitz if he didn’t need her to help him find out who’s framing him-and if he didn’t have the nagging feeling that he really loves her. This old fashioned movie brings back some good old memories of those ’40s romantic comedy classics–in the classic Woody Allen style. —Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
Features rating: No discs (out of 4)
Features review:As good as the movie is, the DVD completely forgoes any special features. Where’s the director’s commentary? I know I’d like to hear Woody comment on this lighthearted trifle. Where are the outtakes? Don’t tell me there weren’t scenes cut that could show us more about Woody‘s style of storytelling. Where is any additional information at all?
Never has so little thought gone into a DVD production.
Which is a real shame, as a director like Woody Allen (and a movie like this) has a lot to offer to viewers who are real fans of his and of this genre.
Bottom line: It’s a good thing Curse of the Jade Scorpion is one of Allen‘s better films of the last decade or two. For that reason alone you’ll buy this DVD, which is good, as the special features are non-existent.
Special features list:
• Anamorphic widescreen
• Scene access
• Interactive menus
