Larry Lipton (Woody Allen) and his wife Carol (Diane Keaton), both in their late forties, go back from a hockey game to their apartment in Manhattan. The middle-aged marriage indulging each other's pastimes of ice jockey and opera. In the elevator, they meet their next-door neighbors Paul (Jerry Adler) and Lilian (Lynn Cohen) House, who are both in their sixties, and whom they actually hardly ever know. Carol is longing to do something with her life, and her curiosity runs wild when her fairly elderly neighbour drops dead. She feels sure the gossipy woman would have mentioned her heart condition. We share Larry's sceptical view of her suspicions, but amazingly it seems there is something going on - especially when the woman turns up alive.
This enjoyable comedy and intrigue film titled ¨Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)¨ balances in the right ratio. A slight murder mystery with a lot of mayhem and confusion in which you have a feisty brew that actually has one or two thrilling, stylish and creepy moments amidst the modish comedy. A bit annoying at first, but little by little it continues to be balanced with fun enough. Light, exciting, entertaining comedy steers clear some of Allen's heavier themes and should keep audiences laughing till the final. Diane Keaton and Woody Allen team up again as two New Yorkers who get involved in a mystery when their neighbor dies under strange circumstances. Woody Allen writing with Marshall Brickman for the first time since ¨Annie Hall¨ and ¨Manhattan¨ makes viewers fall in love with the magic of NYC all over again. Woody Allen originally envisioned ¨Annie Hall¨ as a murder mystery, with a subplot about a romance, during script revisions, Allen decided to drop the murder plot, which he and Marshall Brickman later revitalized in ¨Manhattan Murder Mystery¨. Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman came up with the majority of the screenplay by walking up and down the streets of New York City. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton had trouble keeping a straight face when working together, displaying some uncontrollable laughter between the two, for their laughs were completely spontaneous. Along with the two wonderful protagonists, Allen and Keaton, appears as notorious secondary characters, such as: Alan Alda as Keaton's old flame who still has a yen for her, and publisher Allen's ace author Anjelica Huston, who fancies a mystery almost as much a novelist, adding a good supporting cast: Jerry Adler as the suspicious widower, Lynn Cohen, Ron Rifkin, Joy Behar, among others.
This interesting motion picture was competently directed by Woody Allen, adding the colorful cinematography by Carlo Di Palma, Allen's regular cameraman. In the beginning Woody made usually hilarious films in which he used to act, such as : ¨What's Up, Tiger Lily?¨, ¨Take the money and run¨, ¨Pussycat, Pussycat I Love You¨, ¨Sleeper¨, ¨Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask¨, among others . Subsequently he made several masterpieces. Including a series of movies in which he provided nice direction, investing care enough, wit and warmth, such as : ¨Crimes and misdemeanors¨, ¨New York stories¨, ¨September¨, ¨Radio Days¨, ¨Hanna and her sisters¨, ¨Broadway Danny Rose¨, ¨Zelig¨, ¨Stardust memories¨, ¨A midsummer Night's Sex Comedy¨, ¨Interiors¨, ¨Purple rose of Cairo¨, ¨Manhattan¨, ¨Annie Hall¨, ¨Melinda Melinda¨ and many others . Rating 6.5/10 . Better than average. The movie will appeal to Woody Allen and Diane Keaton enthusiasts.
