Of all the Woody Allen films that I have seen (not that many, I confess) this movie and "Everyone says 'I Love You'" are the ones that I have enjoyed the most. "Bullets Over Broadway" is a very funny, clever, and entertaining comedy. The acting is top-notch; Dianne Wiest is fantastic, Jennifer Tilly and Chazz Palminteri are great and John Cusack is as good as ever, that is: he is extremely good.

So, I enjoyed this film immensely, I laughed a lot, and I thoroughly recommend it.

Now this is something sort of rare, though not really: Woody Allen mixing satire and drama, and the satire actually even more convincing than the drama. The opposite was in a more serious affair, Crimes and Misdemeanors, where art and murder and infidelities all get into one big pot of personality crises. This is the same case with Bullets Over Broadway, though this time Allen's tackling of the ego-maniacal crutches of the Broadway scene- the aging star Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest, one of her very best performances, funniest too),the bumbling boob Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly, appropriately annoying- and then how it sort of infects the outsiders to the major Broadway scene, one the protagonist David Shayne (John Cusack, excellent here),and Olive's bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri, a character he could play in his sleep, but played pretty well anyway). Cheech is hanging around during rehearsals of David's first play he's writing and directing, following getting funding (on the condition of Olive as a psychiatrist) from a heavy-duty mobster, and soon he's suggesting ideas, and in the process becomes David's uncredited collaborator. But meanwhile infidelities are abound, with David falling for the wonderfully self-indulgent Helen, and a goofy romance between Olive and the thespian Warner Purcell (Jim Broadbent),leading to a purely ironic climax.

Allen's skills at navigating the neuroses of all the characters is very skilled, and sometimes the one-liners are surprisingly funny, all based on the personalities (Wiesst especially, in a voice that is a little startling at first, gives a classic line about the world 'opening' up, and her running gag with "don't speak"). Even with the more dramatic connections, which doesn't seem to be as much of Allen's concerns since it's pretty one-note with the mob side of things (and, frankly, the fates of Olive and Cheech sort of seem a little too contrived for the sake of the irony par for the course),we do get a very memorable bit to make things worth the while, like David and Cheech's down to earth talk at the bar. But if there's anything else to recommend more strongly it's for the sharpness of the script in the theater scenes, the backstage banter, the hilarious tension stirred up by grudges and ill-timed romances. Plus, there's a bit of an added treat for fans of past Allen films, where he casts Rob Reiner in a role sort of similar to that of Wallace Shawn in Manhattan. Not a masterpiece, but a very enjoyable work that's successful on its dark-light terms.

Not among Woody Allen's top 5 best films but of the films I've seen of his so far- 36 altogether- Bullets Over Broadway's in the top 10. The period detail looks absolutely incredible and the whole film is photography beautifully, everything just looks so glitzy and glamorous without being too idealised. Tilly's costumes are also to die for. The wonderful score, somewhat a mix of jazz and Broadway, adds a huge amount to the period, the music itself is catchy penned by greats like George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter and the vocals are similarly great. Allen gives some of his best direction in Bullets Over Broadway and the screenplay is sheer brilliance, a vast majority of the lines are hilarious and intelligent(Allen in his films has a lot to say about his subjects and on the most part knows how to say it) in a way that is distinctive of Allen's style and there are some quotable ones too. Love also that the comedy has a light-hearted, biting and whimsical touch without going overboard in either area, and Allen to not make things too one-note includes a seriousness that is well pitched and balanced and an ironic ending that rounds things off nicely. The story goes at a brisk pace and the rehearsal and theatre scenes are incredibly entertaining. A great job is also done with how the characters are written and expanded, though it is a case of the supporting characters being more memorable than the leading one with Helen Sinclair and Cheech especially so. The ensemble performances are great, John Cusack has a difficult task playing Allen's younger alter ego and while you don't quite shake off the feeling that Allen himself would have been better in the role(though you can understand why he didn't) Cusack is actually one of the best actors that have attempted to play Allen's younger alter ego along with Will Ferrell in Melinda and Melinda and Seth Green in Radio Days, something that inevitably has had mixed results(as seen with Jason Biggs in Anything Else and especially Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity). Jennifer Tilly and Joe Viterelli are fine in tailor-made roles, true Tilly is a touch annoying and over-enthusiastic at times but seeing as it's part of the character it's not a problem at all. Jim Broadbent is marvellous and has rarely been more adorable and Mary Louise Parker, Jack Warden and Tracy Ullman provide plenty of humour and heart too. Harvey Fierstein is good and it is interesting to see Rob Reiner in a small role. But the best performances for me were Dianne Wiest, who won an Oscar and deservedly so in a performance that sees Wiest at her comic best(she's never been funnier),and Chazz Palminteri who is menacing, very amusing and sometimes charming, a gangster with a heart and the soul of a poet if you will. Overall, a wonderful film and one of Woody Allen's best of the 90s. 10/10 Bethany Cox