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68 - The Daily Iowan -Iowa City, Iowa - Friday, January 21,1994 QlilIIIlI'm,,_ Woody Allen's ~Mystery' a ~ice . post-holiday gift from the Bijou l¥ha Robinson The Daily Iowan God ble .. those wonderful folks at the 8ijou. Without them, Iowa City would mill! out on eo rouch. This week - apparently as a pleua.nt little post-holiday gift - they're bringing us yet another critically acclaimed film that somehow milled Iowa City last year: Woody Allen's "Manhattan Murder Mystery: a welcome return to the nebbi8h writer I director's m08t popular style. After the critical flak Allen took over his "Shadows and Fog" and "Husbands and WiVN,- and with the Mia Farrow debacle still freah in the pubUc's mind, Allen desperately needed a hit, and this WBI it. "Mystery" is everythina an Allen ran could expect: funny, fresh and utterly neurotic. Written and directed by Allen (with c:o-writer Marshall Brickman), and starring him (of couree), the film is a son of limp, AIIen-elQue take on a Hitchoock film. The main plot foeuaes on an aging Manhattan couple, Larry and Carol Lipton (Allen and his 8econd-choice leading lady, Diane Keaton), who get involved in a poe- sible murder case when Carol 8tarts looking for more adventure in their lives. Larry takes the sudden death of a neighbor cuually, but Carol clutches at a hint of excite- ment in their live8 and iSlIOOn running around, Meing clues in every sighting of th& neighbor's husband. He doesn't seem depressed enough about his wife, she saY8. He suspiciously leaves the apartment at the ungodly hour of 1:30 a.m. (never mind that Larry and Carol themselve8 have been out at that hour; in someone else, it's terribly suspicious). Even when clues that might make Carol's Manhattan Murder Mystery I+ .... ~ Director: WooaJ A/Jm .... ~101 Screenwriter: Woody A/Jm lind Mllrshll/l Bridmllln LArry Lipto" ... . Woody A/Jm M-+I Glrol Lipton. . DillII~ Kill/on 1+-1101 Ttd .. .......... Ailln AIM I+ .... ~ Mllrshll Pox .. Anjtlicll HUJtO" Rating: PG Three worcb: Mia Farrow who? theories somewhat valid begin to surface, Larry is more concerned with other things. Allen feed. his character a ready supply of one-liners and half-coherent protests about his paranoia, his annoyance with the world around him, his fear of the complexities of Carol's active imagi- nation, his wish to be letl alone. He also raises the subject of his age so many times that it becomes a mantra. Carol is supplied with so many similar linea that it becomes impossible to ignore the fact tliat both actors are looking very weathered. As usual, it eeema likely that Allen is itijecting his own worries into his scripts: The specter of age Woody Allen is raised constantly, BI Carol and her friend Ted (KM*A*S*H- 's Alan AIda) worry about how they may lOOn be too old to do anything this exciting. "We're not turning into a pair of com- fortable old shoes, are we?" Carol frets. Allen isn't ready for the boneyard yet, howev- er. He puts in a fine performance as the bab- bling Larry, an insecure nebbish basically like almost all Allen's other characters. His steady patter provides nervous tension whenever noth- ing elae is happening and makes his moments of real suspense absolutely nerve-wracking. Keaton, wo, is delightful as 8he alternates between childlike twittering and serious dia- logue. AIda, though not doing anything he hasn't done before, i8 perfectly ca8t a8 Ted, Carol's sometimea-charming, sometimes-smarmy confi- dant. And AnjeUca Huston puts in a surprise appearance as an amu8ingly predatory author with designs on Larry. Allen's style-of-the-week is wanderingly natu- ralistic - a8 usual, everyone talks at once; the handheld camera travela 100 ely from room to room, BI though the entire thing W8.8 being shot on videotape a8 a home movie. Because moat of the film is so l008e and uncontrolled, the sud- den stylistic changes towards the end of the film, when Allen goes into full Hitchcock mode, are all the more alarming. Allen's taken a beating in the media as of late, but with a little luck he'll be able to 8al- vage his reputation; a few more films this humorous and charming, and the notoriously fickle public may well be able to forgive him anything. And to the staff of the Bijou, who made it possible for us to finally see thi8 movie (and to 8ee Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused" next week 8.8 well): Thanks a lot guys. Keep up the good work. -Manhattan Murder Mystery- plays tonight and Sunday night at 7 and SaturdD.y night at 9. ijj"."M'ti tfl 'Nil'4"_ C-rystal backs out of Academ'y Awards Associated Press LOS ANGELES - Billy Cryatal is bowing out of the Academy Award8 after four ye8l'l. ".(Iter three GrammY8, four OICers and sU:: Comic Reliefs, rm going to take a break from my hosting duties," the come· dian I actor said Thursday in a statement. "I always felt honored to hoat the show and did my best to carry on the tradition of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. '" I hope the new hoat bas 8.8 good a time 88 I did." Oscar producer Gilbert Cates had begged Crystal to come back for a fiftb year, despite critics who called lut year's show a tedious mess and Crystal a disappointment. When Crystal was making a "City Slickers" sequel in Utah last year, Cates took out an advertisement in a local news- paper 8.8king him to return. The Academy of Motion Pic- ture Arts and Sciences ha8n't named a replacement b08t for the Match 21 show. Classifieds 111 Cqm.munications Center. 335-5784 ••• NANC!!:·: -. Lookin' pretty excited considering you're a quarter of a century! • • • 11 •• •• (p.s. PAYBIOSNfNr°AN (Jf'TrlIrll PEOPLE MEETING PEOPLE AGING now_ child ....... 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