Movie reviews: “Curse of the Jade Scorpion”

Woody Allen is again getting his usual share of raves and pans from critics for his latest movie, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Jay Carr in the Boston Globe calls it “lightweight fun, a spoonful of meringue from Woody Allen‘s dessert cart. … lively and funny, with enough juicy one-liners for a couple of movies.” A. O. Scott in the New York Times describes the film as “a ready-made high-end collectible, a charming trifle that flatters the good taste of everyone involved.” On the other hand, Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News says that with this movie, “Allen has gotten so tuneless you have to wonder why he bothers making a movie each year, when he has so little to say and no energy with which to say it.” Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post takes the middle ground, writing: “If I call Woody Allen‘s The Curse of the Jade Scorpion the best big American movie of the summer, I’m not exactly complimenting it. Take the competition — please, take the competition. So this mid-level, pretty-but-not-hugely-funny Allen film slips into the top spot by regretful default. I enjoyed every single second of it, a little bit.”