2002's "Hollywood Ending" was the premiere film at the Cannes Film Festival at the time, but it failed again at the box office and word of mouth.
Character-wise, it's also the last time Woody will be the lead in his own movie. While Woody is acting in exactly the same way as before, he is now 67 years old. Although Woody's mood and performance have not changed, the haggard and tiredness on his face made the audience completely unacceptable for the scene where he fell in love with the heroine. When Woody and the heroine, you and me, said those witty words, there was no sense of romance at all, and there was only an absurd and unreasonable old man image that caused nausea in the audience's mind. This is the limit of Woody's career as a lover's actor, and Woody as an actor can't continue in the love scene in his movie no matter what. I think that's one of the reasons the film failed.
From the story, I think Woody has only 5 best movies so far, they are:
1977 "Annie Hall"
1994 "Bullets Across Broadway"
1969 "Fool in Prison",
1983 "Xili Biography"
1980 "Stardust Once Upon a Time"
Since 1994's Bullets Across Broadway, Woody has completely lost the drama of the story. We look back on what films Woody made in these 8 years:
1994 "Don't Drink Raw Water" (TV movie)
1995 "Non-Powerful Aphrodisiacs"
1996 "Everyone Says I Love You"
1997 "Deconstructing Love Maniac"
1998 "Celebrities"
1999 "Sweet and Humble"
2000 "Amateur Thief"
2001 "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion"
2002 "Hollywood Ending"
Of these films, only "Sweet and Humble" comes out, and none of them are perfect masterpieces. These films have a common problem, they are often just an idea, an inspiration, Woody can complete the story in the best case, but in most cases these films have to go to an embarrassing situation. The story lacks great drama, a strong and intriguing ending or climax. As a result, these 9 films are too bland and tasteless. The most iconic is that the two films, "Amateur Thief" and "Hollywood Ending," share a common shortcoming: the story rushes to a bland ending, and the audience doesn't even realize that the movie ends like this. While Woody himself certainly doesn't want his films to be cookie-cutter, I still maintain that the most outstanding drama films have to have great drama or they won't be great classics.
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