Although he wrote and directed this movie, Woody Allen doesn't appear on screen in Radio Days. He only narrates this one, recalling his life growing up in the olden days when people listened to entertaining shows on the radio. A thirteen-year-old Seth Green plays young Woody, and Julie Kavner and Michael Tucker play his bickering parents.There are several side plots involving his extended family and neighbors, and while Woody tries to connect everything to the glory days of radio, sometimes it feels like he's reaching too far. Mia Farrow plays a low-class cigarette girl who witnesses a random murder in a nightclub. The murderer's henchman, Danny Aiello, is ordered to kill the witness, but instead he falls in love with her. That part of the story is my favorite, but it isn't so adorable to make this one of my favorite Woody Allen movies. The rest of the stories and characters feel like they're only in place for cynical one-liners or little gags.As in most Woody Allen movies, there's a large cast, so be on the lookout for Dianne Wiest, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy, Wallace Shawn, Larry David, Kenneth Mars, Mercedes Ruehl, Tony Roberts, and Diane Keaton. This one wasn't my favorite, but if you're partial to the radio or like lengthy reminisces, you can give it a try and see if you like it.

This is one of the greatest movies I have ever experienced. Every thing about this movie works, the players, the music, the scenery. New York has never appeared lovelier, just beautiful shots of Times Square supposedly in the 1940's. There isn't much of a plot, just loosely joined vignettes, but that is enough. When the end of the movie comes, it makes you wish it would go on and on. Do yourself a favor and catch this movie if it ever comes on TV.

Every time I see this film I find myself enjoying it, as it has to do with one the periods in history that is a favorite: the Second World War. I like the movies from the era, and the music, and it is nice to see a film that goes into what life was like for a certain family in Brooklyn and how they handle their many problems and still continue to care and love another. Besides the nostalgic aspects of the film, another thing that I like about it (and I know that others will likely hate me for this) Allen is no where to be found! He is only the narrator, and I have no problem with that, considering that his acting is stupid and awful. It is a good family film, and should be shared in this setting, because it exhibits what we were and what we may become again. Then I see that Seth Rogan is the kid in this, and realize that he should have never been offered the role in Green Hornet (which was a radio show back in the thirties and forties, which is the era that this film is based in) and that movie was a Hollywood turd, but I digress.

Hugely entertaining movie, soaked in unique kind of vinegary nostalgia: Allen never permits anything syrupy to overwhelm the script.It's a pity his relationship with Mia Farrow ended so sourly. He gives her such a terrific opportunity in RADIO DAYS, which she seizes and runs with. It may well be her best movie performance, because it's so unexpected: surely no one anticipated her coming up with anything so funny.In addition to Ms Farrow, the film is populated by a crowd of phenomenally good character actors, who can set you hooting with laughter with how they turn a one-liner or the way they react to someone else's. There's also a rich vein of poignancy, mostly mined by the ever-wonderful Dianne Wiest. For admirers of Mr Allen at his most dazzling, there's nothing better than the girl-talk scene between Ms Wiest and Julie Kavner. It's perfect.Woody Allen is, by any standard, a film-making phenomenon. One picture (sometimes two) a year since ANNIE HALL in 1977 is quite an output. I think you'd have to be a die-hard fan to deny that the quality of his work has declined, in spite of charmers like MIDNIGHT IN Paris (2011). For me, his last masterwork was BULLETS OVER Broadway (1994), but how many writer-directors make one such, let alone several? As far as I'm concerned he can put in that category MANHATTAN (1979), STARDUST MEMORIES (1980), ZELIG (1983), Broadway DANNY ROSE (1984), HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986), CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989) and, towards the end of that highly fertile period, RADIO DAYS (1987).