A great
Woody Allen film that arrived in theaters in 1997, starring Allen,
Kirstie Alley,
Billy Crystal, Caroline Aaron, Judy Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
Tobey McGuire,
Demi Moore,
Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci and Robin Williams.
Rating: R
Running Time: 93 minutes
The huge cast of stars work well together in the film, and Allen is using his heaviest self-depricating humor yet it seems. He plays a writer named Harry Block who has a son and an ex-wife, and he obsesses over sex and being alone. The movie flashes from Allen's past, to the present, and to various amusing stories he'd written in his life. His shrink is attempting to help him sort out the chaos his life has become. Oh, and he keeps a stash of "hooker money" in his drawer for those especially lonely occasions. As is most of his movies, Allen's Deconstructing Harry is worth a view.
Memorable quotes from the film:
Harry: "I think you're the opposite of paranoid. I think you go around with the insane delusion that people like you."
Harry: "All people know the same truth, our lives consist of how we choose to destroy it."
Doris: "You have no values. Your whole life: it's nihilism, it's cynicism, it's sarcasm and orgasm."
Harry: "You know, in France, I could run on that slogan and win."
Harry: "Tradition is the illusion of permanence."
Harry: "The most beautiful words in the English language are not 'I love you,' but 'it's benign.'"