Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

tomgillespie2002 Back in 1972, before he became known as the prolific writer and director of many classic and iconic movies - and the poster-boy for Jewish neurosis - Woody Allen was still finding his feet in the world of comedy and in cinema. Based on his own 1969 Broadway play, the film adaptation was not helmed by Allen himself but by Funny Girl and Footloose director Herbert Ross. This now seems unusual for Allen, who has always been keen to bring any of his original works to the big screen himself, but Ross' somewhat unfussy approach to film-making compliments the little man's shtick, and simply lets him get on with his motor-mouth monologues and comic pratfalls without the distraction of any cinematic trickery.Play It Again, Sam is centred around Allan Felix (Allen), a recently-divorced film critic who crumbles into self-loathing and pessimism when his wife Nancy (Susan Anspach) suddenly walks out on him. His friends Dick (Tony Roberts), a workaholic businessman, and his lovely wife Linda (Diane Keaton) talk him into dating again, setting up encounters with a string of women that Allan routinely makes a mess of. His favourite film of all time is Casablanca (he watches it on the big screen in the opening scene with his mouth agape during that famous climax), and is occasionally visited by the ghost of Humphrey Bogart (uncannily played by Jerry Lacy). Allan hates himself as he knows he will never be like Rick Blaine, Bogart's most iconic character, but the spirit of Bogie urges him to be a man and show the dames who's in charge. As more dates turn into embarrassment for both parties, Allan finds himself becoming closer and closer to Linda.Free from the wonderfully silly satire of Bananas and less ambitious in its mockery than, say, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Play It Again, Sam hints at the ingenuity to come. It doesn't reach the heights of Annie Hall or Manhattan, but there is plenty of clever work here, with Allen's seemingly improvised little stand-up routines hitting the mark just as much as his physical buffoonery. It's also the first time Allen and Keaton were on screen together, and the chemistry is just as apparent in their on-screen romance as it surely was behind the scenes. Keaton appears to love working with him, and in one scene she is doubled-up with laughter at Allen's babbling. It doesn't have much to offer the romantic comedy genre in terms of originality, nor does it succeed in reinvigorating it in the way his later works would, but Play It Again, Sam is consistently hilarious, sweet and charming, and reminds us why we loved the little New Yorker before those horrific recent allegations surfaced.

moonspinner55 Woody Allen adapted his own hit play and stars in this modestly amusing comedy about a recently-divorced film historian in San Francisco, cartoonishly insecure around women, who is fixed up on dates by his best friends and advised on relationship matters by the spirit of Humphrey Bogart in his "Casablanca" period. Herbert Ross directed, with Librium-slow changes in tempo (the movie pokes along from low-keyed slapstick to dazed romantic comedy). In her first film with Allen, Diane Keaton hasn't yet found her niche on-screen; her whining matches Woody's, but her overall personality is so piqued she tends to evaporate in the middle of scenes. Allen has stuffed his screenplay with one-liners and repetitive jokes that tend to run together, some making an impact and all the rest bombing out. Susan Anspach adds a slight edge as Allen's ex-wife, but Tony Roberts is a hole in the screen as the buddy who may lose his wife to Woody, a complication only Bogie could help iron out. ** from ****

SnoopyStyle Allan Felix (Woody Allen) is a neurotic film critic and loves Casablanca. His wife leaves him and his couple friends Dick (Tony Roberts) and Linda Christie (Diane Keaton) try to set him up. His hero Humphrey Bogart drops by to give him advice and so does his ex-wife Nancy. He has trouble dating normal girls and the crazy ones are crazy. So he ends spending most of his time talking about girls with Linda.Some of it is hilarious. The incompetent dates are funny. I don't laugh as much with the fantasies. As a rom-com, it doesn't hit all the right notes. Dick has to be more of a dick for the audience to root for them breaking up. Of course, he's trying to re-engineer Casablanca and that's not Dick's role. Woody and Diane continue to have great chemistry. This has some hilarious moments and mostly works.

writers_reign Time has not been as kind as it might have been to this early Woody Allen entry which he himself adapted from his stage play of the same name. Whilst there are solid performances - as others have noted here -Tony Roberts and Diane Keaten, there's an indefinable something lacking in the overall picture. Theoretically the Bogie-as-mentor should have been easier to pull off on screen than it was on stage but too many times it comes across as clumsy. The positive aspects are mostly the decision not to allow Keaton and Allen to walk into the sunset together though God knows Tony Roberts was all but shouting to her 'give yourself a break and leave me; I'm dull, boring and predictable and probably scooping dog doo of the pavement is higher in my priorities than you'. Pleasant enough for one viewing.