Rent The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

3.3 of 5 from 92 ratings
1h 38min
Rent The Curse of the Jade Scorpion Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
Someone is stealing millions in jewels from New York City's upper crust and the only man who can crack the case is completely clueless! Woody Allen stars as a crackerjack investigator who falls under the spell of a crook and a beautiful colleague in his most baffling case yet.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Directors:
Writers:
Woody Allen
Studio:
Paramount
Genres:
Comedy, Romance, Thrillers
BBFC:
Release Date:
01/11/2004
Run Time:
98 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
Colour:
Colour

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Reviews (2) of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

The Gloss-Adjusters - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion review by CH

Spoiler Alert
06/07/2020

By way of Alice and Oedipus Wrecks, matters magical recur in Woody Allen's films. With The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), they returned to prove a close run with The Purple Rose of Cairo and would remain way ahead of Midnight in Paris's repetitive hackney vehicle.

The proportion of Allen's period settings increases steadily against those in the here and now - though, come to think of it, Annie Hall is now closer in time to the 1940 of The Curse of the Jade Scorpion than it is to 2020. Temporal concerns soon vanish as the camera lights upon the office in which Allen himself is one of the staff of an insurance firm's claims investigators. This is as brown-hued as much of the film, a place promptly lit up by Helen Hunt who has been sent to impose efficiency measures upon an outfit which has given free rein to Allen's handy way with instinct and lowlife contacts (his jacket, though, is well cut).

A path is set for conflict and badinage, with Helen Hunt displaying - whether by command or subconscious - some of the mannerisms and facial expressions which were once Diane Keaton's. A nice touch is that she is an hour late for a meeting in a bar. It does not give away too much to say that when both are prevailed upon to join a works' outing (if one can call a gathering at the Rainbow Room such a thing), events take a different turn as a hypnotist sets to work upon them. While they speak, so many inner thoughts emerge that they would have Freud wishing he'd taken shorthand lessons (a phrase which just occurred to me - perhaps I could offer it to Allen, a small offering for all that he has provided).

Crime ensues. And with it there appears, well-nigh shimmeringly, Charlize Theron in a long white dress, with her hair and cigarette so well poised that she is more than a tribute to Veronica Lake (who could not have away with some of the salty lines uttered here).

To give prominence to the women present here should not overshadow the effective turns by seen-it-all guys Dan Aykroyd and Wallace Shawn on the staff (“you look like my Uncle Jerry right after the United Parcels truck hit him”).

Allen's roots have always been is night-club sketches. He is not one of nature's plotters. The same can be said of some novelists. Their skill is in finding ways around a little local difficulty (think how short are the chapters in War and Peace). With The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Allen has a more cohesive plot than he did in another period number Bullets Over Broadway, which was no match for the front- and back-stage about-turns of Michael Frayn's play Noises Off.

Well, one should not pre-empt too much of what is on offer here, all of which can be summarised in Allen's retort when caught by surprise: “I wasn't spying - I was rummaging.”

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Period comedy noir. - The Curse of the Jade Scorpion review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
13/02/2021

 Woody plays CW Briggs, an insurance claims detective who works by intuition (like Edward G. Robinson in Double Indemnity) and who clashes awith Helen Hunt's efficiency expert, newly appointed by the board to drag the company up to date into the 1940s. After a visit to see a hypnotism act they become compelled to steal jewels on a command from the hypnotist, using their inside knowledge. And just for fun the crooked magician gets the warring adversaries to fall in love with each other on hearing the trigger word.

 Woody tried to get Jack Nicholson or Tom Hanks to star, and it was hardly surprising they turned it down, so verminously is CW Briggs continuously described in the dialogue. Given that the period setting made this the most expensive of Allen's films to produce, he decided to play the part himself.

And he is great at the back-and-forth duel of smartass repartee. But he's clearly too old to be dallying with Helen Hunt never mind Charlize Theron as the fast talking dames.

But allowing for that, Woody and Theron's scenes are still a blast, and clearly referencing Bogie and Bacall in The Big Sleep. Visually, she is made-over magnificently into a forties femme fatale. The great Chandleresque dialogue rarely flags. The film looks stunning and the period details are superb. It's a light, funny film noir with some real suspense. The critics hated it again and it flopped, but it deserved much better.

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