This is an engaging mockumentary about Leonard Zelig (writer/director Woody Allen), the undisputed medical phenomenon of 1929. So serious is his neurological condition, that he will assimilate the physical, mental, and even cultural attributes of whomever with he spends significant time. That's right--around fat people, he gets fat. Around black people, he becomes black. He'll develop a beard and orthodox learning before your eyes if he's around rabbis. The only one who understands, and consequently, fights for him, is the long-suffering Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (Mia Farrow), determined to find the cure.
It's just a shame that this film didn't win more awards than it actually did, and a near perfect crime that it's not discussed more often than it is. For one thing, it's far and away among Allen's VERY BEST. The textbook subjects that he confronts so well, such as disease and physical yearnings, are present, but are righteously treated as window dressing for the presentation of the story. The insertion of Allen, Farrow, and a cast of their pals (all of whom perform to a T) to the pre-war era is eye-popping, to say the least. As said before, it's a mockumentary executed so nicely that it could make Christopher Guest turn stone with envy. The highly improbable plot is considerably well-handled, leading us to the inevitable comparison that follows.
Now, if you run around praising "Forrest Gump" (and I KNOW you do), and you haven't seen this, you're really missing it. As fun and briefly interesting as "Gump" was, this classic edges past it, for the simple reason that it knows better than to take itself seriously. This is a comedy, start to finish. The gags are gags, and never manipulate. When we feel for Zelig, Eudora, or both, it's real. After all, who HASN'T tried to fit in somewhere? Finally, the ever-changing way in which the public views/treats Zelig through the whole ordeal that was his "career" exposes the fickle nature of pop culture, showing it for the joke that it is. This was truly Woody at his finest, in a work that definitely should have a little more admiration.
It's just a shame that this film didn't win more awards than it actually did, and a near perfect crime that it's not discussed more often than it is. For one thing, it's far and away among Allen's VERY BEST. The textbook subjects that he confronts so well, such as disease and physical yearnings, are present, but are righteously treated as window dressing for the presentation of the story. The insertion of Allen, Farrow, and a cast of their pals (all of whom perform to a T) to the pre-war era is eye-popping, to say the least. As said before, it's a mockumentary executed so nicely that it could make Christopher Guest turn stone with envy. The highly improbable plot is considerably well-handled, leading us to the inevitable comparison that follows.
Now, if you run around praising "Forrest Gump" (and I KNOW you do), and you haven't seen this, you're really missing it. As fun and briefly interesting as "Gump" was, this classic edges past it, for the simple reason that it knows better than to take itself seriously. This is a comedy, start to finish. The gags are gags, and never manipulate. When we feel for Zelig, Eudora, or both, it's real. After all, who HASN'T tried to fit in somewhere? Finally, the ever-changing way in which the public views/treats Zelig through the whole ordeal that was his "career" exposes the fickle nature of pop culture, showing it for the joke that it is. This was truly Woody at his finest, in a work that definitely should have a little more admiration.