The trick behind making a comedy like this, is to at least give an illusion that you are tying the gags and the skits together into a narrative (see: Monty Python's the Holy Grail). This is this movie's biggest flaw, because the narrative changes direction in the middle. Or rather, it gets a direction, as the first half was more fleeting. Once the story gets going (with the "Napoleon"-plot), it's a bit more enjoyable as a movie (rather than a string of gags), but even still it's kind of half hearted.There are some really funny moments, like physical gags, jokes, references and word play, but it's not really enough to justify the entire movie as one story. The performances are also good, both the extras and bit parts, and Diane Keaton's comic performance. Woody Allen plays himself, but does so as well as always.

After spending the entire Christmas holiday in bed with a burning- hot fever,I decided that I would start the year by looking at the loves and deaths of Woody Allen.The plot:Waiting to be put in front of a firing squad, Boris Grushenko starts to look back on his life.Decades earlier:Despite being the smartest member of the family,Boris finds himself being completely ignored,with Boris secret desire to ask his second cousin Sonja being blown to bits,by Sonja's sudden decision to get married.Telling everyone within ear shot that his not suitable to be a solider,Boris is pushed by his family to join the Russian army,in their fight against Napoleon.Whilst he barely has a clue about how to use weapons,Boris finds himself becoming a war here,after he and 13 others are the only soldiers to have survived a war against the French.With her husband having recently died,Sonja decide,that whilst she may never love him,that Boris is someone that she likes,who she will give her hand in marriage to.Getting set to finally settle down,Boris finds his life to become more hectic than ever,when Sonja hatches a plan to assassinate Napoleon.View on the film:Whilst the European-on location filming was such a joyful experience that lead actor/writer/director Woody Allen would not film out of the US again until 1996's Everyone Says I Love You, (with this movie having Allen try and deal with a crew that barely spoke English,everyone (apart from Allen!) getting food poisoning,a falling out with original studio Fox,constant bad weather,Allen and other cast members getting seriously injured,and to top it all off,the negatives to the battle scenes being damaged,which led to them having to be re-shot!)Allen reveals a surprisingly sharp eye for the vast scope of the films battle scenes,with Allen using tightly held shots to show the "sheep" on the battlefield.Along with casting a wide net for the battle scenes,Allen also smashes down the 4th wall with a stylish force,as Allen goes from showing Boris dreams in a minimalist manner,to Boris & Sonja delivering spidery monologues in front of an unsettling stoic camera.Written after Allen had read War & Peace at a rather quick pace, ("It's about Russians!!") the screenplay takes a perfect approach to the satirising of Russian novels,by skilfully mixing jokes designed for those who have read the books, (such as the ending being a riff on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment)and those who haven't (such as Boris village looking like the dour dead zones featured on the paperback cover of Russian novels.)Along with satirising Russian novels,Allen makes sure to keep the loves & deaths of Boris at the heart of the movie,with Boris upbringing having a whimsical folk charm which is matched by the slap-stick joy of his attempt to kill Napoleone.Running across the battlefield terrified,Woody Allen gives an excellent performance as Boris,with Allen combining his wicked one- liner delivery with a fantastic hapless nature,as Boris finds things to have gone way over his head.Giving the title a touch of beauty,Diane Keaton gives a superb performance as Sonja,with Keaton casting a warmth across Sonja's face,as she slowly falls in love for Boris,whilst Jessica Harper gives an atmospheric performance as Natasha,as each character discovers their love and death.

Woody Allen is a revered and maddening figure in my world. Revered because he is an absolute genius; maddening for the same reason. Even if you have never seen a film he has written and directed, you have no doubt heard his one liners: "Don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love." "I'm not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens." "I'm not really the heroic type, I was beat up by Quakers." His jokes have a delivery that mocks the greats like Rodney Dangerfield and Bob Hope yet Woody Allen's unique on screen persona imposes at least a superficial level of earnestness and faux-intellectualism. It's especially maddening to think he's so freakishly prolific! Since 1969 he has written and directed at least one film a year. Not all of them cinematic gold but considered he has been nominated for an Oscar 18 times for writing, directing and producing I'd say a good chunk of his filmography is pretty darn good.In fact while my exposure to his filmography is less than complete, there's truly not a film I wouldn't see again. The worst I've seen was a little known box office bomb by the name of Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) with a post Mad About You (1992-1999) Helen Hunt. It felt like a failed TV pilot but nevertheless was entertaining enough to slug through. If it were on TV about as often as The Mummy Returns (2001) I'd probably watch it again if nothing else were on.The best Woody Allen film I personally have seen is 1975's Love and Death. Like Curse of the Jade Scorpion it wasn't nominated for anything of significance. It didn't curry much favor with audiences either making just north of $20 million and while the critics enjoyed Love and Death it still remains one of Woody Allen's lesser known films. Yet while it's lesser known it's certainly not lesser loved. Vincent Canby of the New York Times calls Love and Death one of Allen's "most consistently witty films." It enjoys a 100% Fresh rating on Rottentomatoes.com and most "early Allen" enthusiasts swear by the Russian literature satire.Woody Allen's sixth directorial effort starts and ends centered on the life of Boris Grushenko (Allen), an impertinent yet cowardly Russian scholar who isn't too fond of going to war with the French and Napoleon. "She's (Russia) not my mother. My mother's standing right here, and she's not gonna let her youngest baby get shrapnel in his gums," Boris cries as he has pushed by his stout-hearted family to join the war effort. Once he's thrown into the fray, hijinks ensue in a Marx Brothers meets War and Peace kind of way. But while faced with the insanity of war, all Boris can think about is his lovely cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton) who he's had the hots for since childhood.Love and Death evokes memories of Duck Soup (1933) and The Great Dictator (1940) only with less political satire and more philosophical and humanistic satire. One of the reoccurring jokes involves Boris and Sonja taking inopportune moments to argue philosophy using jargon literally lifted from the existentialist writings of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky. Philosophy gets skewered along with the thick tomes of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, the historical significance of the Napoleonic wars and the films of Sergei Eisenstein and Ingmar Bergman. Who knew you could cram so many high-minded material into an 85 minute movie who's big battle scene involves Woody wearing a cheerleader outfit and a guy walking around yelling "get your red hots."While Allen has fallen out of favor since his heyday in the 1970's and early 80's (much of which is credited to his tumultuous personal life), his movies still create a blip on the cultural radar every once in a while. Friends my age were introduced to his comedic work through Midnight in Paris (2011). A movie that brought to mind another favorite of mine, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). His latest Blue Jasmine (2013), while closer in mood to Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) is nevertheless a stupendous film.I think most, if not everyone could find a Woody Allen film they'll enjoy. Perhaps there's a Quizilla that will assign you one based on your personality. Or perhaps you should just watch as many as possible and pick your favorite. That's what I did!http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/

Love and Death marks a very distinct transitional phase for Woody Allen, being the very last of his oddball comedies and the most sophisticated of them. It combines, essentially for the last time for Allen, incredibly silly puns and one liners that would fit in a Mel Brooks movie ("I think we should divide his letters... do you want the vowels or the consonants?") with clever satire and parody on Bergman and Dostoevsky. It's probably my ignorance in Russian classic literature that prevented me from enjoying it more, but I loved the loving Bergman spoofs and young Woody's quirky, neurotic humor. I can't name it as one of my favorite Allen films but it certainly holds its own as a fresh, hilarious piece.