Not one of Woody Allen's best films but not a total bust. Alice is a film about a very rich shallow woman trying to find meaning in her life. This is Woody Allen's version of A Christmas Carol, as Alice reviews her past and present life through a series of magical experiences.
Mia Farrow does her usual naive waif thing but she does it very well. The cast has to cope with trying to make the Woody Allen dialog not sound like Woody Allen dialog. Probably Alec Baldwin does the best with this impossible task.
Woody Allen probably should have worked a little harder on the script, he tends to crowd most of the obvious comedy bits towards the end of the film. The film also could have done without yet another tour of New York City, which seems to turn up in about every other film he shot during this period.
This is the last film for Keye Luke, an old Chinese-American character actor from the 1940's, Luke was a veritable living history of Hollywood, appearing in Charlie Chan films as the number one son, voicing Hanna Barbara cartoon villains, and appearing in the TV series Kung Fu. Luke's a lot of fun in the film as the mysterious Dr. Yang who guides Alice on her journey of self discovery.
A high quality film worth a look even though it's not really successful.
102 minutes.
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