Details
Movie Description
MIGHTY APHRODITE is Woody Allen's stab at Greek comedy/tragedy, and it is wildly successful. Allen stars as Lenny Weinrib, a sportswriter married to ambitious Amanda Sloan (Helena Bonham Carter), who desperately wants her own art gallery in New York City and is willing to play the game to get it. Amanda convinces a reluctant Lenny to adopt, and they end up with beautiful Max. Lenny soon becomes obsessed with finding out who Max's biological parents are, and he is not exactly happy when he discovers that the mother is a high-pitched actress wanna-be who is also a minor porn star and hooker (Mira Sorvino, in an Oscar-winning performance). Lenny is determined to turn her life around--but at the same time is forced to examine his own marriage, which is failing.
Allen intersperses New York City vignettes with hysterical scenes of a Greek chorus, led by F. Murray Abraham, chiming in about Lenny's life, comparing it to Greek drama, and breaking out into song-and-dance numbers. The scenes in which the two worlds meet--both in New York and in the Greek theater, are wonderfully witty and incisive. This charming light comedy from Woody Allen also features fine cameo appearances by Olympia Dukakis, David Ogden Stiers, Jack Warden, and Tony Sirico.
Synopsis
Woody Allen uses the classical Greek play format, complete with a chorus, to portray the comic travails of a Manhattan marriage as the schlubby sportswriter husband meets up with a ditzy hooker in his search for his adopted son's natural mother.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: October 27, 1995.
The film grossed $6.4 million at the domestic box office.
The film screened at the 1995 Toronto and Venice Film Festivals.
Filmed on location in New York (New York City and Quogue), at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and at the Teatro Greco in Taormina, Italy.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted Mira Sorvino runner-up for the Best Supporting Actress prize for 1995. She won an Oscar and a Golden Globe in the same category.
The fake last name Lenny uses when he goes to meet Linda is Gildersleeves.
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland played Oedipus in the Greek Chorus.
The soundtrack features the music of Cole Porter, Erroll Garner, Rodgers & Hart, Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Allen regular Dick Hyman, among others.
Coproducer Helen Robin also served as production manager, and associate producer Thomas Reilly was the second assistant director.
Woody told the New York Daily News in January 2001, "I'm kind of proud that two of my...Brooklyn-born regulars over the years have done so well," referring to Michael Badalucco (THE PRACTICE) and Tony Sirico (THE SOPRANOS). "Now I have to get Ray [Garvey, who appears in MIGHTY APHRODITE and later Allen films], another natural who always comes through for me, into a TV series."
Industry Reviews
"...[Sorvino gives an] all-redeeming, possibly best-list-bound performance..."
USA Today - p.4D - Mike Clark
"...A zippy, frothy confection....Dominated by a striking performance from Mira Sorvino....[She develops] a deeply sympathetic and appealing character..."
Variety - Todd McCarthy (09/04/1995)
"...Laugh-out-loud funny¿.When Mira Sorvino's Linda is on screen, MIGHTY APHRODITE is alive with daffy erotic glee..." -- Rating: B+
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (11/03/1995)
"...Laugh-out-loud funny….When Mira Sorvino's Linda is on screen, MIGHTY APHRODITE is alive with daffy erotic glee..." -- Rating: B+
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (11/03/1995)
Quotations
"Please, Lenny, don't be a schmuck!"--Greek Chorus to Lenny (Woody Allen) when he thinks about looking for his adopted son's birth mother.
"Children grow up, they move out, sometimes to ridiculous places like Cincinnati or Boise, Idaho. Then you never see them again"--Greek Chorus
"You'd think once in a while they'd pick up a phone."-- Greek Chorus leader (F. Murray Abraham)
"You're such a Cassandra."--Lenny
"I am not such a Cassandra. I am Cassandra. That's who I am."--Cassandra (Danielle Ferland)
"Achilles only had an Achilles' heel; I have a whole Achilles' body."--Lenny to Greek Chorus leader
"Um, this is Zeus. I'm not home right now. But you can leave a message and I'll get back to you. Please start speaking at the tone."--Zeus's answering machine (voice of Kent Blocher) when the Greek Chorus implores him for help
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