Woody Allen never seemed terribly enamored of his various professions. He saw compromise in theater, artlessness in movies, and straight-up vulgarity in television. His protagonists were often men who cared about artistic integrity to a self-destructive career.
“Broadway Danny Rose” is not Allen’s finest work of the Reagan era, but it is his most generous. Typically, there’s a contemptuous distance between Allen and his characters. He views his heroes as fools, and their lovers as dupes or self-involved heartbreaks in the making. The struggling performers in “Broadway Danny Rose” are real and, in many ways, kind. Best of all, they’re surprising. Farrow is a revelation as an Italian force of feminine nature who sucks down cigarettes like they’re s***-talking fuel. Meanwhile, Allen is an agent committed to serving his clients, and getting them the best work commensurate with their talent.
And it may just be the best (non-horror) Thanksgiving movie ever made.
