Bullets Over Broadway

Director: Woody Allen
Year Released: 1994
Rating: 2.0

One of the pictures from Woody's 90's 'breakdown,' where some of his films became unlikable parodies of themselves, and where he frequently made the mistake of casting someone else to play a role he's best suited for (in this particular case, John Cusack tries, pathetically). I found little to enjoy in this circa 1930 'backstage' story, which may have worked better had it actually been made during that time. There's a good deal of discussion over 'genius' and 'talent' and 'art' (everyone calls themselves an 'artist' even though they never make anything, which is the joke), and the real artist of them all turns out to be someone who could care less (Chazz Palminteri, brilliant). Becomes annoying and pretentious even when mocking pretension, and feels just a little rushed.