Deconstructing Harry
Starring: Woody Allen, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Richard Benjamin.
Directed By: Woody Allen
Released By: Fine Line Features
Theatrical Release Date: 12/12/1997
DVD Release Date: 05/27/1998
Run Time: 96 min.
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Synopsis: Woody Allen wrote, directed, and stars in this very dark comedy
about a novelist, Harry Block, who says with admirable honesty, "I'm a guy who
can't function well in life, but I can in art." So far, Harry has made his way
through six psychiatrists and three marriages (one, conveniently enough, with
one of his psychiatrists), and he has precious few friends whom he hasn't
alienated or betrayed. Harry uses the chaos of his life as fodder for his
writing, angering his friends, lovers, and family, who find thinly veiled (and
rarely flattering) portraits of themselves in his work. Drowning his growing
misery in pills and sex, Harry finds himself invited to receive an award at a
college in upstate New York which he attended, but never graduated from.
However, he has a hard time finding anyone who will attend the weekend-long
symposium with him: his girlfriend Fay (Elisabeth Shue) has just left him to
marry his friend Larry (Billy Crystal); his best friend Richard (Bob Balaban) is
afraid he's about to have a heart attack; his former wife/analyst Joan (Kirstie
Alley) refuses to let him take their son, and his one-time sister-in-law Lucy
(Judy Davis) is literally ready to kill him. Undaunted, Harry hires a hooker,
Cookie (Hazelle Goodman), kidnaps his son, forces Richard to come along, and
heads upstate, where disaster awaits.