Review by Steve Rhodes

2 stars out of 4
"Six shrinks later, three wives down the line, and I still can't get my life together," Harry Block tells his psychiatrist in
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. Woody Allen, playing Harry as a parody of himself, is back. With his usual self-deprecating
humor, he spends copious time with his shrink, and, as always, he obsesses over sex. At his son's grade school, Harry advises
his little boy, "The two most important things are the work that you choose and sex."
Woody surrounds himself with a cornucopia of friends (Kirstie Alley, Richard Benjamin, Eric Bogosian, Billy Crystal, Judy
Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julie Kavner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Demi Moore, Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci and
Robin Williams among others),creating too much of a distraction as these excellent actors parade through the movie. The
jumbled result is a frequently humorous show -- although there are not as many big laughs as in most Allen films -- that
disappoints as often as it surprises. Still, a mediocre Woody Allen comedy is better than the best films of some directors.
As in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, Allen plays games with reality and fiction and upsets the time-space continuum.
Harry Block is a writer of semi-autobiographical tales. In one of the more interesting twists, most of the roles in the picture
are played by two characters. There are the movie's main characters and the ones from Harry's book and short stories, who in
turn are modeled on the main characters.
To complicate things further, Harry's stories constantly mock Woody Allen's recent troubles. Harry describes himself, for
example, as "a guy who can't function well in life but can in art." Or as his psychiatrist tells him, "You expect the world to
adapt to the distortion you've become."
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY is filled with vignettes of comedic anger, and, like most of Allen's works, it pokes fun at his
fellow Jews. After several dozen movies, most of Allen's characters seem to be repeats from his previous movies. The two
fresh ones this time are newcomer Hazelle Goodman's black hooker role and Robin Williams's fuzzy part.
Robin Williams plays a actor named Mel, who gets "soft" during the filming of a movie. He gets out of focus, and there is
nothing they can do to sharpen him up again. ("Daddy's out of focus, Daddy's out of focus," his son taunts him.)
Woody looks older and more tired than ever in DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, but he can still turn a phrase and create an
unforgettable image. Although his recreation of hell with Billy Crystal as the devil shows no spark of creativity, his rendering
of a Bar Mitzvah with a STAR WARS theme does.
The lightweight story eventually runs out of gas and stops, but it provides little to take away other than some fleeting humor.
Just a year ago, Woody's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU proved that Woody still possesses his genius. Let's hope for
better things next time from Woody than DECONSTRUCTING HARRY.
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY runs 1:35. The film is rated R for profanity, sex, brief nudity and some dope smoking. It
would be fine for older teenagers.
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
Review by Jerry Saravia
No Rating Supplied
Woody Allen's last couple of movies lacked bite and true comic spirit, and I had the feeling his work was going
to continue along the lighter side, as in "Everyone Says I Love You." Now with the shockingly disturbing and
provocative "Deconstructing Harry," he has created one of his most lacerating, uneven yet truthful comedydramas ever.
Woody Allen plays a successful author named Harry Block who's currently facing writer's block on his latest
novel. While he's creatively challenged, Harry loves to sleep with any woman he meets, has affairs with
girlfriends and wives, and finds a kinky pleasure in sleeping with prostitutes. At one point, he asks one particular
prostitute (Hazelle Goodman) to tie him up, beat him, and "give him a blow job." Harry also has a knack for pills
and whiskey and little else - all there is his art that feeds his soul, or what he has left of it.

Harry's life is remarkably similar to his novel. The characters he creates are exaggerated figments of people he
was once close to (As a counterpoint to his life, Woody dramatizes the real-life characters in his book by having
different actors). His Jewish sister and brother-in-law (played by Caroline Aaron and Eric Bogosian) are depicted
as hateful denizens in his book yet they are not that different in reality. Harry also had an affair with his ex-wife's
sister (Judy Davis) who threatens to kill him after threatening to commit suicide. They are hilariously depicted in
his book as lovers (played by Richard Benjamin and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who have sex in front of his half-blind
grandmother! "Deconstructing Harry" is an unusual experiment for Woody Allen because he actually dissects
himself and his life through his art and through his relationships. One can argue that he has done that with every
film he's made, but what is most unusual is how rough Woody is on himself - for the first time in his career, he
curses, and talks about sex in graphic detail. He also curses at his ex-wives (Kirstie Alley, Amy Irving) who are
always yelling at him for his numerous affairs and for how they are depicted in his novel! The only sweet
relationship he has is with a lovely fan (Elisabeth Shue) who's about to marry Harry's best friend (Billy Crystal)
who may be the Devil himself!
Woody also has a grand time including scenes from Harry's former novels. There is one where different kinds of
Jewish stereotypes are depicted in relation to Harry's family, such as the perfectly cast Demi Moore as a
psychotherapist who "sees true beauty and meaning" in Judaism. Then there are the Jewish parties where the
guests are dressed as Darth Vader and the waiters as stormtroopers! How about his uncle who may killed his first
wife and eaten her! And then there's Woody's greatest comic invention since "Zelig" called "The Actor," a
character (Robin Williams) who is always out of focus!
"Deconstructing Harry" juggles a lot of characters and situations and throws them up in the air with great
abandon. Woody Allen's visual style is more complex since there are less long takes and lots of jump cuts to
emphasize Harry's own dissection of his life and the others around him. The film doesn't always succeed nor is
he as deconstructive of Harry as he should be, but his theme of how an artist's work is more significant than his
life is superbly realized. "Deconstructing Harry" is not as consistently hilarious as his earlier films, and maybe it
isn't meant to be. It is, however, as daring, courageous, darkly comic and outrageous a self-portrait as I've seen in
a long time.
Copyright 1997 Jerry Saravia

Desmontando a Harry (Deconstructing Harry)

[ cach de Tempus Fungui: 13:51:02 - 20/07/2003 Ledo 79 veces ]
NOTICIAS CINE (Phantastika)
Publicado en:Pasadizo Anlisis de Pelculas [ Link Original ]
Desmontando a Harry (DECONSTRUCTING HARRY)
Harry Block, es un afamado novelista con una marcada tendencia a desvelar sus mayores obsesiones en sus
libros, adicto a las pildoras y al sexo, cuenta en su haber con tres ex mujeres que le odian. Harry acaba de
escribir una novela en la que narra experiencias pasadas de su vida con sus mejores amigos, tras cuya
publicacin se convierten, claro est, en sus peores enemigos.
Ficha Tcnica Director y guin: Woody Allen / Productor: Jean Doumanian / Productor ejecutivo: J. E.
Beaucaire / Co-productores ejecutivos: Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe y Letty Aronson / Fotografa: Carlo
DiPalma / Efectos especiales: ILM (efectos visuales) / Montaje: Susan E. Morse / Intrpretes: Caroline Aaron (Doris), Woody
Allen (Harry Block), Kirstie Alley (Joan Block), Bob Balaban (Richard), Richard Benjamin (Ken), Eric Bogosian (Burt),

Billy Crystal (Larry/Satans), Judy Davis (Lucy), Hazelle Goodman (Cookie), Mariel Hemingway (Beth Kramer), Amy
Irving (Jane), Julie Kavner (Grace), Eric Lloyd (Hiliard Block), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Leslie), Tobey Maguire (Harvey Stern),
Demi Moore (Helen Epstein), Elisabeth Shue (Fay), Stanley Tucci (Paul Epstein), Robin Williams (Mel)... / Nacionalidad y
ao: USA 1997 / Duracin y datos tcnicos: 95 min. Color.
Comentario Tal como viene siendo habitual en la ltima etapa de la filmografa de ese genio que es Woody Allen,
Desmontando a Harry hace gozosas incursiones en el gnero fantstico, as est esa estupenda escena con Harry llegando al
infierno, donde le recibe un mefistoflico y (sorpresa!) excelente Billy Crystal, o aquella en la cual la Muerte, de
indumentaria muy bergmaniana, viene a reclamar a la persona equivocada, o lo mejor del film, el sketch protagonizado por un
desenfocado Robin Williams, absolutamente desternillante, y que ha gozado inclusive de un plagio en un spot televisivo. La
pelcula se presencia con un algo de sorpresa, inclusive puede decirse que embarazo. En sta -hasta el momento- es donde
Woody Allen persona se ha desnudado ms a fondo, haciendo uso del Woody Allen artista para lanzar lo que parece ms bien
un mea culpa, una especie de intento de justificacin hacia las personas a las que ha herido (incluida Mia Farrow?). Para
nosotros, como espectadores, una vez superada la referida sorpresa, queda una muy satisfecha curiosidad sobre la naturaleza
humana y, como es costumbre por parte de Allen, hurga en las heridas donde ms duele con una sonrisa en los labios. Woody
Allen habla de la problemtica humana y de la dificultad de las relaciones con ms densidad y complejidad que vacuos
pedantes como Atom Egoyan o Kieslowski, slo que adems de un forma divertida y gozosa, tamizando todo con una
aparente sencillez. Adems, en cada pelcula, Woody Allen experimenta con el lenguaje cinematogrfico, as en Desmontando
a Harry exhibe una narrativa emparentada con los docu-dramas televisivos, mediante un montaje sincopado, donde incluso
efecta diversos cortes en un plano-secuencia para otorgarle unos visos documentales ms acusados. Por lo dems, la pelcula
es algo as como un remake, o segunda entrega, de Stardust Memories (Recuerdos...) (1980) mezclada con Interiores
(Interiors, 1978), pero con la madurez creativa e intelectual acumulada en estos aos. As, la influencia del Bergman de
Fresas salvajes (Smultronstllet, 1957) es, una vez ms, acusada, amn de pequeas pinceladas, como la referida alusin a El
sptimo sello(Det sjunde Inseglet, 1956). Y algo que puede pasar desapercibido es la enorme capacidad de Woody Allen como
director de actores, donde intrpretes que hasta el momento siempre nos resultaban discutibles, en manos de Allen sacan
capacidades que creamos ausentes en esas personas. De tal manera, amn de la referida habilidad de Billy Crystal, conviene
destacar el papel de psiquiatra histrica de Kirstie Alley, absolutamente magnfica. Uno de los muchos alicientes ms para ver
este Desmontando a Harry. Que Woody Allen siga por muchos aos con esta vena inspirada.
Ancdotas * Premios: Oscar (1998): nominacin a guin original. Cinema Brazil Grand Prize (2000): nominacin a mejor
film extranjero. Premios Europeos del Cine (1998): nominacin al "Premio de los Cinco Continentes". Satlites de Oro
(1998): nominacin a mejor pelcula de comedia o musical * En un principio, el papel que acab interpretando Woody fue
ofrecido a Elliott Gould. Carlos Daz Maroto (Madrid. Espaa)

Deconstructing Harry
A Film Review by James Berardinelli

United States, 1997

U.S. Release Date: 12/25/97 (wide)
Running Length: 1:38
MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, mature themes, sexual situations, nudity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Woody Allen, Judy Davis, Elizabeth Shue, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Hazelle Goodman, Eric Lloyd, Billy Crystal,
Richard Benjamin, Demi Moore, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, Stanley Tucci, Robin Williams
Director: Woody Allen
Producers: Jean Doumanian
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Cinematography: Carlo Di Palma
U.S. Distributor: Fine Line Features

Deconstructing: To write about or analyze in a way that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth,
asserts that words can only refer to other words, and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any text subvert their own
meanings. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition)
How much of Woody Allen is there in Harry Block? This is undoubtedly one of the questions likely to be foremost in any
viewer's mind after watching Allen's 1997 feature, Deconstructing Harry. It's also the question most often asked of the
director in interviews about the film. Allen has been understandably evasive, stating repeatedly that, while there may be some
similarities between Harry and himself, the movie is a work of fiction and Harry is nothing more than a character.
Of course, it could be argued that artists, regardless of whether they're authors, painters, or movie directors, aren't always
aware of the full ramifications of what they create. It seems clear that Allen is doing a little more with Deconstructing Harry
than simply telling a funny story. But is he using Harry Block as a means to work through some personal demons, in a form
of on- screen therapy? Or is this a none-too-subtle jab at all the critics who want to inextricably entwine Allen's real life with
his reel life? The truth is, it's probably a little of both. If Deconstructing Harry has an overriding theme, it's that the man and
the artist can be separated, and, even if the man is a despicable person, his art can redeem him.
Of course, this makes Deconstructing Harry sound like a deeply philosophical movie, which it isn't, and the seeminglypretentious title only adds to the confusion. But the film is appropriately named. Deconstructing Harry doesn't tell a
straightforward or linear story. Instead, it uses a fairly unremarkable plot as a springboard for comic vignettes that gradually
answer questions about Harry's identity. Like the layers of an onion, the folds of his life, both as told through "true"
flashbacks and "fictionalized" accounts, are peeled away, offering a clear picture of the man -- and it's not a pretty one.
So who is Harry Block? He is, by some accounts, one of the most unpleasant men alive. Since he's played by Woody Allen,
he's also an insecure and self-absorbed individual, as well. (Has there ever been an Allen character who wasn't a poorlyadjusted neurotic?) Professionally, he's a world- famous, bestselling author who writes thinly-veiled autobiographical tales
about his relationships with his three ex-wives. Personally, he's a wretch -- a pill-popping, alcoholic lout who has few friends
and can't stay faithful to one woman. By his own admission, he hasn't grown up, is a failure at life, has no soul, and is a selfhating Jew. According to another character, the whole purpose of his life is "sarcasm and orgasm." He's thoroughly dislikable,
and one of the film's failings is that it occasionally tries (unsuccessfully) to sympathize with him. Harry is best viewed from a
distance.
Ostensibly, the film is about Harry's trip to upstate New York, where a college that expelled him as an undergraduate now
wants to honor him as a distinguished alumnist. At the same time, he's looking to overcome a severe case of writer's block.
Along with Cookie (Hazelle Goodman), a hooker he hired for the day; Richard (Bob Balaban), a friend with a bad heart; and
Hilly (Eric Lloyd), his son, Harry heads north. Along the way, we get to know him through both flashbacks of events from his
life and anecdotes from his books, which are really just different flashbacks with other actors playing identical parts. For
example, Demi Moore plays Harry's second wife in the excerpts from his novels, while Kirstie Alley plays the same character
in "real life". Harry even has two fictional stand-ins for himself, played by Richard Benjamin and Stanley Tucci.
All this might sound confusing, but it's really not. Allen's script isn't linear, but it isn't difficult to piece together. The intent is
to amuse, not to confuse. However, aside from piquing the viewer's curiosity about how much of Allen is in Harry, there's not
a whole lot of depth to Deconstructing Harry. It's a movie of moments, some of which are side-splittingly funny. Arguably,
this is the most uproarious comedy that Allen has ever done. The dialogue is almost always as brilliant and witty as it is
profane. There are as many genuinely funny one-liners here as in any other movie this year. I won't go into detail describing
my favorite scenes, but one offers a visit from Death, another includes an elevator ride into Hell (where the women are
topless, the band plays "Sing Sing Sing (with a Swing)", and Billy Crystal runs the place), and a third features a blind
grandmother. Then there's Robin Williams, who, in a cameo, has never been so delightfully out of focus.
Deconstructing Harry is an uneven piece of work, but the high level of comedy covers up many of the rough spots. Allen fans
won't confuse this latest outing with the likes of The Purple Rose of Cairo, Annie Hall, or Crimes and Misdemeanors, but it's
good to know that the director can still poke fun at himself, despite his tarnished image. We may never know how much of
this film is pure fiction and how much is self-analysis, but one thing is for sure -- once the laughter has subsided and the end
credits have rolled, audience members will begin deconstructing Woody.
1997 James Berardinelli

Deconstructing Harry (1997)

n 1997, Woody Allen released his most bitter film since Stardust Memories over 15 years before. The film, Deconstructing
Harry, is a bitter, cynical, and often funny look at an art and the artist, a vaguely concealed self-portrait of Allen himself,
played mostly for humor. It is also one of the best films he made in the 1990s (not bad for a guy who makes at least one film
every year.)
The story centers around Allen's character, Harry Block, a fairly successful writer who uses his friends and family in his
"fictional" stories - changing names from Janet to Jane, but leaving the main details of their lives at the center of his stories,
flattering or not. As a result, he has very few friends and very many enemies, the result of spinning his friends' real lives into,
as Judy Davis sarcastically derides it, "literary gold".
Allen gives us little time to adjust to the film, right off the bat we are thrown immediately into the story with a bizarre scene
involving an affair, oral sex, a blind grandmother and onions. Soon, we cut to "real life" and begin to realize this is merely
one of Block's stories, not an actual scene in the film. But before Allen lets you laugh too hard, he throws us into an amazing
scene between Allen and Judy Davis, who plays the sister of Allen's ex-wife. They had an affair together during the marriage,
and Allen had written about it in one of his stories, embellishing it for humor, but barely trying to disguise the character's
identities (the aforementioned "Janet" to "Jane" name change). This raw scene throws us right into the story, and features a
powerhouse of a performance from Davis, an actress Allen has used several times (Husbands and Wives, Celebrity). She
threatens to shoot him, even brings a gun out and aims it at him. The only way Block is able to save his own life is by telling
her a story.
The film then jumps into the story being told and we are soon following Tobey Maguire (then a relative unknown) through a
bizarre, O. Henry-type story scene involving a chinese prostitute, mistaken identity and the appearance of Death himself. As
the second of these 'stories' to crop up in the actual film, it quickly becomes apparent that Allen delights in weaving these
short tales into the narrative of the film itself, creating an often humerous but more often revealing diversion. The style of the
film - jumping from life to fiction and back again, employing an odd, repeated editing style (hard to describe at best), and a
little of the dizying style of camerawork used a few years previous in Husbands and Wives - is consistently fresh, innovative
and appealing, something Allen's not always associated with. On two different instances, Block's created characters actually
show up in the film to give him advice in real life (echoing the fictional characters come to life scenario of Purple Rose of
Cairo).
The premise of the story soon emerges as Harry Block is invited to his old college to accept an award honoring his career as a
writer. The irony here, of course, is that he has no one really to share it with, he has no real friends, a string of ex-wives and
lovers, and a child he doesn't have custody of. Desparate for someone to share the experience with, he ultimately ends up
taking along a black prostitute, a long lost (and quite sick) friend, and his son, whom he decides to kidnap from school.
Shades of Bergman's Wild Strawberries abound in the ensuing road trip, with even the eventual destination being similar to
that of Isak Borg's in the Bergman masterpiece. The journey to the college is littered with various people and several of
Block's rather surreal stories.
The rather amazing thing about Deconstructing Harry is that, while Allen is often bitter in the film, lashing out at detractors
and the like, and plays an essentially unlikeable main character, he is still able to turn out a brilliant and even at times warm
film that is filled with humor, drama, and life. The screenplay was nominated for an Oscar, and the ensemble cast, one of the
biggest Allen has ever used (Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Elizabeth Shue, Tobey Maguire, Julie Kavner, Kirstie Alley, Demi
Moore, Eric Bognosian, and Stanley Tucci among others) all but guarantees that, even if you're not an Allen fan and might
find this film not to your particular liking, there is no way you will ever be bored by it. Intelligent, funny, and important all at
once, Deconstructing Harry is necessary viewing for any Allen fan, even the casual one, and might be an interesting piece to
watch if you had written him off earlier in his career.