‘The new Woody Allen’: many people couldn’t care less. Many film critics have long given up because they think Allen is irritating and his style is predictable and they regard his enormous work tempo sloppiness. Yet Allen is one of the few living oeuvre-builders by whom even the worst film sticks out head and shoulders above what usually comes from the USA.Time for a re-evaluation, even if opinions about this film are very divided in America. Deconstructing Harry is a comedy about the hopelessly neurotic writer Harry Block (Allen) and the vicissitudes of his creative and erotic life. The film is set in today’s New York and covers the spectrum from sophisticated, visual humour to surreal farce. Harry makes himself unpopular by being repeatedly unfaithful – he has already gone through three wives – and by using the people around him as fodder for his confession novels. His life is characterised by a confusing sequence of comic yet serious and sometimes even life-threatening events.Allen’s character is present in virtually every scene, flanked by supporting roles played by some of the best-known names of the moment. The headline of one review of the film was: ‘New Woody Allen film funnier and more neurotic – if that’s possible’.
