With The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Woody Allen pays another visit to his
idealized past, and his retro blend of humor and nostalgia will surely satisfy the
filmmaker's most loyal fans. Like The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, and
Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is physically impeccable:
its period-perfect costumes and sets capture 1940 New York with splendid
authenticity and are further enhanced by the burnished glow of Zhao Fei's
cinematography. And like those earlier films, Jade Scorpion mines comedic gold
from its timeframe, molding it into a plot laced with expert zingers that could only
spring from a rich awareness of comedic tradition. Add an appealing roster of
costars (including Elizabeth Berkley and Charlize Theron) and you've got vintage
Woody that perks right along.

The movie's also as trivial as it is engaging; hack off 30 minutes and it might have
had the delirious precision of early Marx Brothers classics. Instead, Allen's goofy
conceit--enemies falling in love by hypnotic suggestion--is stretched to absurdity
when efficiency expert Betty Ann "Fitz" Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt) is hypnotically
attracted to seasoned insurance investigator C.W. Briggs (Allen), despite their
office enmity. Plus, a jewel-heist caper masterminded by the nightclub hypnotist
(David Ogden Stiers) casts them both as suspects! Woody harvests a bumper
crop of old-fashioned laughs from this predicament, and despite their
conspicuous age difference and occasional awkward delivery, Hunt and Allen
exchange volleys of dialogue like a seasoned comedy team. Dan Aykroyd is also
good in a stodgy supporting role, but Jade Scorpion remains a mixed blessing--a
welcomed throwback to comedy's yesteryear, from a master funnyman who's
struggling to maintain relevance in the present. --Jeff Shannon