Review

You'd think that Woody Allen and an homage to screwball comedies would go together like Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Alas, with The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, an occasionally amusing though muddled comedy set in the 1940s, writer-director Allen isn't fully up to homage, screwball or comedy. Allen plays C.W. Briggs, an insurance investigator who is hypnotized by a nightclub magician (Stiers) into using his expertise to rob rich clients. Then, he is given the task of investigating the crimes that he himself committed, but of course cannot remember. It's a premise that's ripe for laughs, but Woody is only able to partially deliver the goods, often delivering silly jokes and forced punch lines. Sure Allen's been silly before, but he's been able to counter with big laughs, and there aren't enough here. Woody gives the film slap-happy pacing, and the cast is eager to please, but lacking a few big comic set pieces, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is merely jokey without the substance.