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Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, José Ferrer, Julie Hagerty, Tony Roberts ... see more see more... , Mary Steenburgen , Thomas Barbour , Sol Frieder , Michael Higgins , Timothy Jenkins , Kate McGregor-Stewart , Adam Redfield , Moishe Rosenfeld , Boris Zoubok

Woody Allen brings a diverting whimsy and a hopeful innocence to this period roundelay, based upon Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer's Night and Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game. Allen plays Andrew, ... read more read more...a Wall Street broker and eccentric inventor who is having frigidity problems with his wife Adrian (Mary Steenburgen). Adrian and Andrew are the hosts, at their summer house in the country, of a wedding party for Ariel (Mia Farrow) and Leopold (Jose Ferrer), a famed academic who is Andrew's cousin. Over the weekend, another couple converges at Andrew's summer home -- the sly, lady-killer of a doctor Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his date, the deliciously ditzy nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Through the course of the weekend, sexual partners are exchanged and magical fairy tale moments are shared. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Flixster Users

57% liked it

8,906 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

21 critics

PG, 1 hr. 28 min.

Directed by: Woody Allen

Release Date: July 16, 1982

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DVD Release Date: November 6, 2001

Stats: 310 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (310)

  • danperry17
    September 24, 2011
    danperry17
    Not Woody Allen's best - rather witty, but a little on the dull side.
  • SirPant
    September 6, 2011
    SirPant
    It's an interesting idea, Shakespearean adaptations and period dramas were rife in the early 80's, so to do one with Woody Allen's witticisms was probably well received at the time. As much as I liked the script, performances and watching Allen flying about in a floating bicycle,... read more it didn't quite grab me and I found it a little dated. It's still amusing and odd enough for me to give it three stars though.
  • blkbomb
    September 3, 2011
    blkbomb
    Andrew: He's a wonderful guy and a terrific doctor. Never lost a patient. Got a couple of them pregnant, but never lost one. 

    "Six characters in search for love."

    Halfway through this movie, I didn't believe there was any way I was going to like it at all. I did, however, warm ... read moreup to it, but still just couldn't find myself really liking the movie. The cinematography was beautiful, the performances were strong, but I didn't like the movie. For having the word Comedy in its title, it sure wasn't that comedic.

    The characters were extremely wacky and that lead to an extremely wacky and annoying ending. Woody Allen plays Woody Allen as an inventor.  Mary Steenburger is her usual annoying self, but she does give a good performance by her standards. The others were all good, but I didn't find myself liking any of the characters, which is weird for a Woody Allen movie because I normally like the women characters in his movies.

    This falls towards the lower half of Allen's movies, when it comes to quality. His movies are really hit and miss for me. I've loved a lot of his movies and I've disliked many of them. Some of them just seem like he couldn't think of anything else, so he made a short little comedy just so he could get his movie out for that year. He's obviously a great director with movies like Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan, but sometimes I wonder how I've ever liked a movie from him when I see one like this. Then I go watch Hannah and Her Sisters over again and he's a god of filmmaking once again.
  • kenstachnik
    March 22, 2011
    kenstachnik
    More or less Woody Allen playing himself in a Bergman film. Good for a few laughs, far from him best, far from his worst.
  • Julie
    July 26, 2010
    Julie
    I always forget how funny Woody can be.
  • jjnxn
    April 12, 2010
    jjnxn
    Adequate reworking of A Midsummer's Night's Dream but hardly Woody's best. For so short a film it feels curiously inert.
  • jennifxu
    November 29, 2008
    jennifxu
    I just realized that all of Woody Allen's movies LOOK quite different but they all have the unmistakable stamp of Woody still. This is such a beautiful movie! And such beautiful people! And such fantastic physical comedy with its light romp between sex and love and their inextric... read moreable bind and its hilarious anachronisms and the funny little inventions like the flying machine and the big shadow ball. Light, imaginative farce suits Woody.
  • garyX
    March 28, 2007
    garyX
    An enjoyably light comic homage to Shakespearian comedy, complete with an ensemble cast and many farcical misunderstandings. One of Allen's more pleasing and watchable offerings, more upbeat and less self absorbed. Jose Ferrer is great as the pompous Leopold.
  • fb20312798
    April 10, 2011
    fb20312798
    A surprisingly weak film from Allen during a time when he was at his creative peak. The problem is that the 'magical' element just doesn't work here, and the characters are not very appealing.
  • streamofconsciousness
    July 15, 2010
    streamofconsciousness
    This movie was a pleasant surprise. A screwball sex comedy, a take on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and homages to directors Renoir and Bergman and Russian writer Checkov,
    I found the film to be funny and especially enjoyed the absurdist elements of the plot.
    Exce... read morellent cast! I especially liked Mary Steenburgen. I loooved her in the kitchen scene!

View All A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy Reviews

Critic Reviews

Dave Kehr
July 3, 2008
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

It's funny and sweet in spots, though the light moments get lost in the haze of imitation and ambitiousness. Full Review

Variety Staff
July 3, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

A pleasant disappointment, pleasant because he gets all the laughs he goes for in a visually charming, sweetly paced picture, a disappointment because he doesn't go for more. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There doesn't seem to be a driving idea behind it, a confident tone to give us the sure notion that Allen knows what he wants to do here. Full Review

Janet Maslin
August 30, 2004
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Picturesque but uncertain. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
July 14, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Inspired by Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, andwith a touch of Renoir's Rules of the Game, this period comedy is a minor work, a trifle in Allen's career, worth seeing for some of the supporting a... Full Review

Fernando F. Croce
March 13, 2010
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

Allen has no affinity for Renoir's robust generosity, yet this study does wonders for his filmmaking Full Review

July 3, 2008
Film4

It's not classic Woody, but it has a warmly human attractiveness about it. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
September 24, 2007
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

It's one of Allen's lightest trifles, but it too contains enough funny jokes and fantasy moments to make it a small treasure. Full Review

February 9, 2006
Time Out

Warm, romantic and old-fashioned. Full Review

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
February 4, 2004
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy circles around the nuances of love-a web that both tantalizes and confounds Americans. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Andrew: Sex alleviates tension and love causes it.
    • Adrian: Why does a beautiful day like today give me such a sad feeling?
    • Maxwell: Did you not know that I've had my eyes set on you these last two weeks?
    • Dulcy: I've only been working here for five days.
    • Dulcy: [aroused] Leopold, bite me... Hard!
    • Leopold: I can't. These aren't my teeth.
Submit a Fact | View All

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