Manhattan Murder Mystery - 1993

Contents

Meurtre mystérieux à Manhattan

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy
Run Time: 104 minutes

Film Synopsis

Larry (Woody Allen) and his wife Carol (Diane Keaton) are a married couple who, after twenty plus years, have settled into a rather mundane routine. She reluctantly goes to hockey games with him, he in turn grudgingly joins her at the opera. It's always business as usual with little spark, until an elderly neighbor in their apartment building is found dead of an apparent heart attack.

Carol becomes suspicious when the woman's husband (Jerry Adler) acts a bit too nonchalant, and begins to uncover clues which she believes point to foul play. Larry is convince Carol is imagining things, causing her to turn to a recently divorced friend, Ted (Alan Alda), for comfort. Larry, meanwhile, is flattered by the attentions of a writer (Anjelica Huston), and frustrated by Carol's insistence that she crack the case.

Main Cast Noteables

Woody Allen .... Larry Lipton
Diane Keaton .... Carol Lipton
Jerry Adler .... Paul House
Lynn Cohen .... Lillian House
Ron Rifkin .... Sy
Joy Behar .... Marilyn
William Addy .... Jack, the Super
John Doumanian .... Neighbor
Sylvia Kauders .... Neighbor
Ira Wheeler .... EMS Doctor
Alan Alda .... Ted
Anjelica Huston .... Marcia Fox
Melanie Norris .... Helen Moss
Marge Redmond .... Mrs. Dalton
Zach Braff .... Nick Lipton

See Full Cast & Credits

Movie Remarks

by Steve Labinski

Woody Allen was living through his off-screen scandal with Mia Farrow when Manhattan Murder Mystery was produced, so Diane Keaton was brought in to fill the role written for Farrow. The reunion of Keaton and Allen put this movie into a light-hearted chemisty that hadn't been seen in his films in years, which was something quickly seen by longtime Woody Allen fans.

A modern take on the Nick and Nora crime solving couple of The Thin Man movies from the 1930's, they recruit friends (Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston) into solving the mystery. Like a full night's entertainment at a "murder mystery dinner", it's all a very fun ride.

Alda and Houston reappear here for Allen. Alda, who seems to always play a lecherous ham is back from Husbands and Wives, and Huston has a lot more interesting stuff to do here then in Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Full of pure Woody Allan wit, watching Manhattan Murder Mystery is like eating an indulgent dessert. Did I really enjoy that so fast?

Manhattan Murder Mystery Movie Trivia & Awards

Movies which influenced this film is the film noir caper Double Indemnity combined with the husband and wife crime solving duo of the comic detective Thin Man movie series from MGM in the 1930's.

Additional

Budget: $13.5m (USA)

Gross:

$11.285m (USA), SEK 2,233,769 (Sweeden), ESP 360,191,068 (Spain)
Production Dates: 1992
Release Date: August 13, 1993 (USA), October 13, 1993 (France), September 10, 1993 (Sweeden), February 18, 1994 (Finland), April 15, 1994 (Spain)