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 ****

Right at the start of his movie-making career Allen could be truly hilarious. His jokes and mannerism were still fresh and entertaining. Coupled this with a simple plot and references to one of the great classics of all time and the result is this wonderful, funny movie.Allen plays Allan, a movie critic crushed by his divorce. He openly admits his ex-wife did not find him attractive and left him looking for greener pastures. Unfortunately, throughout the years Allen denied his unattractiveness and his jokes became stale. But here he is still in top form and very honest. His character is funny and vulnerable, therefore likable.A couple of married friends try to fix him with some dates which end disastrously. Along the way, Linda, the Keaton character sort of fall for Allan and they have one of the most hilarious "dates". Obviously, Keaton and Allen had great chemistry and the San Francisco location added an element of openness, which is not to be found int he more claustrophobic New York-based movies. Also noteworthy are the amazing clothes Keaton wears in the movie. She plays a model with excellent taste, wearing timeless outfits.The Bogey-ghost friend is very entertaining, giving absurd advice to Allan. The ending is great, managing to be both original and playing homage to Casablanca. One of the best Allen ever.

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.

This is Nancy, Allan's ex-wife speaking, and such a fascinatingly intriguing line that it totally distracted me from the break-up, the belittling comments on Allan's sexual merits, and all the pathos plunging Allan in the seminal state that forged the legend of Allen's characters, hence the merely disguised similitude between the two names. Anyway, I kept repeating in my mind "one of life's great watchers".These words powerfully echo the opening scene when Allan is watching the legendary ending of "Casablanca". His mouth agape makes you wonder whether he's mesmerized by the film or envious of the manly confidence Bogie exudes, towering a weepy Bergman. When the lights of the theater are turned on and Allan gets back to the bitter reality, his apartment gives the answer. It's a film-geek's paradise, full of Bogart's movie posters; all about Bogart, the screen star and macho icon, everything Allan/Allen is not.And this is the core of Allan's existential torments, he loves movies because they vehicle the very emotions, and feelings he wants to awaken in women. The constant hallucination of a Bogie with his legendary trench coat walking along Allan (great impression by Jerry Lacy) shows how predominant the Bogart-figure is in his life. The expression in Allan's face in the theater is of a young frail little boy who fantasizes about being the blonde stud getting the girl. The process works in reverse when he imagines Nancy (Susan Anspach) going in a motorcycle with a blonde and muscular biker, the 'Nazi-type' as he says.The core of Allan's insecurity is his total disillusion, he knows, a Bogie, he's not ... or maybe he can try by watching films, to grab some little bits of Bogie's aura, play it like Bogart (could have worked as another title) and see if it works. Naturally, the film is mostly funny when it doesn't.If not women, Allan has two friends, Dick (Tony Roberts), a fitting name for the workaholic real estate agent whose only running (sometimes irritating) gag consists on giving the phone number on each place he's in, and Linda (Diane Keaton), a gentle and sensitive soul, driven by a sort of maternal care toward Allan. Both try to connect Allan with their female acquaintances but the dates turn out to be totally disastrous. From an excessive use of Canoe perfume, a nervous grunt meaning 'Hello', his lamentable attempts to impress by showing a sports medal he bought 20$, or the unforgettable record thrown in the furniture, the date is probably one of the funniest scenes from any Allen's films.Indeed, Allen is never as hilarious as when he tries to impersonate what he's not, and the more he tries to 'play it like Bogie', the funnier it gets. The film is pure Woody Allen in his most delightful self-loathing humor. And there's more than that, if "Play it Again, Sam" provides some good moments to laugh at Woody Allen, it also vehicles the idea that he's never as 'attractive' as when he's natural, granted he tries to find the right girl. And the story leaves some sweet hints of a genuine chemistry between Allan and Linda, believable for the simple reason that with Linda, he's being himself, never tries to seduce her, and therefore reaches the level of quiet and tacit appeal to make jealous any wannabe Bogie.As a romance and a comedy, "Play it Again, Sam" is a real gem. All the bits are unequally hilarious and we kind of see the ending (and some other plot devices) coming but they're continuously punctuated with hilarious one-liners. "I reject before being rejected. It's a way to save time and money" is one of these quotes that would make you laugh harder if they didn't touch a real sensitive chord. It's all about the quest of our own equilibrium, on seduction without compromising ourselves, on hiding our weaknesses while remaining true to our souls. When Allan finally gets to play the role of his all-time idol Bogie, replaying the climax of "Casablanca", he precisely achieved his dream because he wasn't trying to be Bogie, the arc was closed."Play it Again, Sam" is adapted on a Woody Allen's play, and appropriately features all the Allenian trademarks: self-derision, ethnic references, a cute and tender romance that foreshadows the best coming between Allen and Keaton (in a way, "Play it Again, Sam" is like the ancestor of "Annie Hall"). And the more I watch Allen and Keaton's pairing, the more I realize that the couple has nothing to envy from Bogart and Bergman, Keaton has this incredible intellectual appeal that makes believable such a beautiful woman would be insecure. She doesn't overexpose her beauty, and instead exudes the feeling of a fragile flower waiting to bloom on a man's heart, the stuff that inspires Allan's own sensitivity.Herbert Ross, who directed the film, diluted his style into Allen's spirit, using the town of San Francisco as the only un-Allenian element of the film, providing its rich and unique atmosphere. And as usual, beyond the gags, there's the eternal dedication of Allen to Cinema. I mentioned in "Take the Money and Run" that Cinema was the ultimate geek escapism. By playing it like Bogie, Allan finally reconciles with his own self-esteem, the point is that he learned that Bogart isn't a character, it's a state of mind, a readiness for having the guts to follow heart and instinct and sometimes even appease them for the right reasons.When he impersonated Bogie, Allan was pathetic, when he embraced his state of mind, he was no more a loser. Maybe that's the greatest gift of Cinema, providing some models, not to impersonate, but to inspire ourselves. I also believe that Cinema is the stuff dreams are made off and as one of 'life's great watchers' I sometimes wish I could have the same hallucinatory relationship with Michael Corleone.