Manhattan (1979) ****

The great thing about Woody Allen is that he didn't peak early in his career. In my opinion, he has done some of his best work in his golden years, particularly 2011's "Midnight in Paris." Nonetheless, some of his early works are classics, and “Manhattan” is one of them.

Basically, this is a movie about a bunch of hot messes. 42-year-old Isaac (Woody Allen) is a divorced TV writer dating a 17-year-old girl (Mariel Hemingway). Meanwhile, his married best friend, Yale (Michael Murphy) is having an affair with a pedantic intellectual named Mary (Diane Keaton). When Isaac and Mary fall in love, it turns everyone's world upside down.

It would be easy to dismiss these characters as a bunch of useless, pseudo-intellectual urbanites, who do no useful labor and produce nothing except a miasma of neuroticism and narcissism. Not to mention perversion! I mean, what the hell is a grown-ass man doing dating a 17-year-old, and where are her parents in all of this? The genius of “Manhattan,” however, is its self-deprecation. There's nothing you can say about these nitwits that Allen doesn't poke fun at himself.

This is just a witty, smart movie that should be on every cineaste's list. Allen and Keaton, in particular, are excellent. I was a bit surprised, however, to learn that Mariel Hemingway scored an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She is beautiful, but I found her flat acting to be one of the weak points of the film. The other weak point is the completely sexless nature of this movie about sex. Whatever you think about a grown man sleeping with a 17-year-old girl, it should at least be hot! Likewise, the intellectual connection between Isaac and Mary should have a corresponding physical chemistry. All of these characters seem like they've been neutered. Beyond that, the film is witty and neurotic, like Allen, himself, and a great example of his early work.

4 stars out of 5