Deconstructing Harry
1997
****½
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Amy Irving, Billy Crystal, Judy Davis, Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobey Maguire, Robin Williams, Hazelle Goodman
Harry Block is a talented but selfish writer who treats his own life, and the lives of his friends, lovers, and family as material for his books. Woody Allen's raunchiest and most foul-mouthed comedy feels highly autobiographical; following his famously public and controversial breakup from Mia Farrow in 1991, it becomes a story about a writer who can function in his art but not in his personal life. This is a sharply scripted and cleverly constructed film in which flashbacks and fantasy sequences blur the lines between life and art, forcing Harry to confront the consequences of his stories and his own personal failings.
