1 (Woody Allen? Yes?) but a failure in
life — mostly because he's modeled
his characters too closely after the
people that comprise it.
So, in literary retaliation or vindi-
cation, his characters and the family
members he's based them on each
take turns coming back to
haunt/guide/berate him, depending
on which film spool is presently
3.nwinding.
By his own admission, Woody
Allen is guilty of this "true life pira-
cy.''
Even in a chance flipping through
Eric Lax's eponymous Woody biogra-
phy, there's Woody Allen, revealing
that Charlotte Rampling's character
in Stardust Memories was probably
just a thinly veiled Louise Lasser
:most notably, "Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman" and Allen's second
wife).
Certainly, if we were to find fault
with this practice, the canon itself
would greatly diminish, if not disap-
pear entirely.
That Harry Block believes his nov-
els' characters can somehow teach
him to be a better person, then, is an
iiintriguing premise, even a touching
one. In Deconstructing Harry, howev-
er, Allen is just a bit clumsy (and
occasionally heavy-handed) in saying
so. Casting director Juliet Taylor has
assembled a cast chock-full of Holly-
wood's Who's Who that allows Allen
to properly flesh out this English 401
theme: Bob Balaban, Stanley Tucci,
Judy Davis, Amy Irving, Robin
-1 -Williams, Kirstie Alley, Eric Bogosian
and Billy Crystal, to rattle off a stray
handful.
As Harry's disenchanted sister
Doris and romantic interest Fay
respectively, Caroline Aaron and Elis-
abeth Shue are plainly standouts on
this heavily stacked screen. (There is
also one elderly Yiddishe lady who is
so authentic and brilliant, you'll
'1/:)Arear you sat next to her at an Israel
Bonds dinner — and you probably
did.)
Only Demi Moore, as a come-to-
life literary characterization of Harry's
ex-wife Joan (Kirstie Alley) — appar-
ently selected for her uncanny Alley-
like rasp — seems unredeemably life-
less. Even defibrillating paddles here
would be of no assistance.
While periodically brilliant, the
trouble with Deconstructing Harry is
its inconsistency and — oddly
enough — unseemliness.
As Harry, Allen puts words into
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139