the second attempt by a new york intellectual in less than 10 year to make a swedish film the first be susan sontag brother carl ( which be make in sweden and with swedish actor and no less . ) the result . oscar wilde say it best and in reference to dickens the old curiosity shop represent one would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh out loud at the death of little nell . pretty much the same thing here . interior be chock full of solemnly intoned howler . ( i be afraid of my anger . look into the middle distance represent i do not like who i be become . ) the directorial quotation ( to use a polite term ) from bergman be close to parody . the incredibly self involve family keep remind u of how brilliant and talented they be and to the point of strangulation . ( i read a poem of yours the other day . it be in i do not know the new yorker . oh . that be an old poem . i rework it . ) far from not care about these people and however and i find them quite hilarious . much of the dialog be exactly like the funny stuff from allen earlier film only he direct his actor to play the line straight . have not cast himself in the movie and he have poor mary beth hurt copy all of his thespian tic and intonation and and neurotic habit and turn her into an embarrassing surrogate ( much like kenneth branagh in celebrity ) . the basic plot dysfunctional family with quietly domineer mother seem to be lift more or less from bergman winter light and the basic family melodrama trick up with a lot of existential angst . it all come through in the shopworn visual or aural trick represent the deafen scratching of a pencil on paper and the tower surf that dwarf the people walk on the beach . etc and etc . allen later serious film be less embarrassing and but also far less entertaining . i will take interior . woody rarely make a funny movie .