Manhattan Murder Mystery

Directed by Woody Allen, Manhattan Murder Mystery follows Allen’s Larry and Diane Keaton’s Carol as they become convinced that their neighbor (Jerry Adler’s Paul) has murdered his wife (Lynn Cohen’s Lillian) – with the narrative detailing the pair’s increasingly perilous efforts at proving their case (alongside Alan Alda’s Ted and Anjelica Huston’s Marcia). Filmmaker Allen, working from a script by Marshall Brickman, delivers a slow-moving yet mostly compelling endeavor that benefits from snappy dialogue and sharp performances, and it’s clear, too, that the movie’s mystery admittedly grows more and more compelling as time progresses – with the climactic stretch packing a far more exciting and suspenseful punch than one might’ve anticipated. There’s little doubt, too, that Manhattan Murder Mystery works surprisingly well as a portrait of a married couple that’s fallen into a palpable rut, with the completely convincing nature of Larry and Carol’s relationship heightened and perpetuated by the palpable chemistry between Allen and Keaton (and their predictably top-notch work, of course) – which, in the end, cements the picture’s place as a comfortably middle-of-the-road Allen effort that’s decidedly (and ultimately) more successful in its second half than in its first.

*** out of ****