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Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
Woody Allen returns to light-hearted comedy, discarding introspection but retaining his perception of human folly, with a decidedly optimistic tone. Lenny (Woody Allen) is a reasonably successful sports-writer with a happy marriage to Amanda (Helen Bonham-Carter), much younger but his intellectual equal. After an evening out with friends, one of whom is very visibly pregnant, Amanda becomes broody and badgers Lenny with thoughts of children. However, she can't afford to take a year out from her busy art gallery, thus adoption is the only choice. Lenny is even more deeply opposed to this idea (when he has such great genes!) but, of course, he's only the boss of the relationship. Amanda makes the decisions and soon a third member joins their family unit, Max.

Several years pass and Max has grown into a bright, adventurous, handsome young kid. Occasionally Lenny and Amanda wonder just where he came from, to get these fine characteristics, but such ruminations barely linger. Amanda is starting to drift away from Lenny though, engrossed in ambition to open her own gallery, which leaves time for him to look into who Max's brilliant parents are. The father is unknown but, by devious means, he tracks down the mother to Philadelphia. She's moved on by the time he visits, changing names regularly and ending up as an actress in New York. Later he finds out that she's actually appeared in porn movies and now works as a hooker - this is something of a shock. Lenny arranges a meeting with Linda Ash (Mira Sorvino), her stage name is Judy Cum, and turns up as her "3 o'clock". Brassy, crude, shallow and squeaky, Linda is nothing like the genius that Lenny had dreamt of.

Lenny perseveres, for Max's benefit, and manages to get to know Linda a little better. A delightful day at the races opens Lenny's eyes to the life Linda has (he can cope with her off-the-cuff remarks on genitalia now) and also how mediocre her familial roots are. Inevitably Lenny wants to change her, since he'd far rather have Max find out that his biological mother was a married hairdresser than a pimp maintaining prostitute. Linda would like to evolve but her options are quite limited, although Lenny's attempt to locate a suitable boyfriend is sweet. Meanwhile Amanda is ensconced in her business and making a cuckold of Lenny with financial partner Jerry Bender (Peter Weller). Everything seems to be falling apart but with Lenny and Linda's track records as losers, perhaps they'll land on their feet this time.

Once again Allen returns to ever faithful themes of marriage, love, emotion and decision but, as always, imparts a new spin on matters. The age gap between Allen and his actresses has never seemed so stark yet this serves a purpose, adding an uncomfortable feeling that is entirely in tune with the script. The acting is generally competent except for Sorvino, who is excellent. Her portrayal of a ditzy hooker with low-level dreams is perfection, never once relying on the whore-with-a-heart stereotypes and allowing her to steal every scene. A nice touch is the entirely artificial addition of a Greek chorus who pronounce on the events shown and, as the film progresses, take an active part in the proceedings. There's no reason for their existence but they get to throw out a wealth of cutting one-liners! Mighty Aphrodite may not be Allen on top-form but it's nevertheless pretty fine entertainment.

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