71
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliWoody Allen is rarely a big commercial draw, and whether his off-screen antics will boost his box-office take remains to be seen, but Manhattan Murder Mystery may be his most accessible film since Hannah and Her Sisters. This movie is still pure Allen, but the humor is broad-based, and the "quirkiness" often associated with the director is kept to a minimum. Frankly, it's been years since I've enjoyed the director's work this much.
- 80Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversAllenphiles will have a field day mining the film for inside dope. Are the clips from Shanghai and Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity — movies in which men are set up for a fall by dangerous women — a sly dig at Farrow? Better to see Manhattan Murder Mystery for what it is: Annie Hall replayed in a minor key by a filmmaker who sees the comedy, tragedy and transience of love and can’t stop playing the game. Allen’s readiness to step on a laugh in favor of feeling may cost him at the box office. But in this time of private hell and public scorn, it will help him endure.
- 80Time OutTime OutAs light and brazenly generic as Allen's early work. As a result, it is both unusually insubstantial, and, at least in the second half, extremely funny.
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumWoody Allen's welcome return to straight-ahead entertainment, after 15 years of slogging through art-house hand-me-downs, happily coincided with a return to Diane Keaton as his leading lady, and she deftly steals the show.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertManhattan Murder Mystery is an accomplished balancing act.
- 70VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyWoody Allen once described himself as "thin but fun," and the same could be said for his latest effort, Manhattan Murder Mystery. Light, insubstantial and utterly devoid of the heavier themes Allen has grappled with in most of his recent outings, this confection keeps the chuckles coming and is mainstream enough in sensibility to be a modest success.
- 70Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonHis new film, Manhattan Murder Mystery, isn't a knee-slapper. A comic mystery in the tradition of the "Thin Man" movies, it has effortlessly funny appeal. Almost intentionally imperfect, it's a tossed-off sketch of a thing, intended to lightly engage and no more.
- Fast and funny, it makes you wish this would-be American master was more often lightweight.
- 60The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinAlthough Manhattan Murder Mystery struggles with its own contrivances, it achieves a gentle, nostalgic grace and a hint of un-self-conscious wisdom. Those who appreciate the long, daring continuum of Mr. Allen's work will be glad to find him simply carrying on.
- 60It might be easy to jump to conclusions as to why Allen made such an irreverent film when his life was in such turmoil, but more to the point why he made it at all. While relatively enjoyable and amusing, the acting begins to grate as the married couple bicker constantly but thankfully Alda and Huston are as reliable as ever.