Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz Palminteri, Jack Warden, Jim Broadbent, Tracey Ullman, Joe Viterelli, Harvey Fierstein, Rob Reiner, Mary-Louise Parker
Bullets over Broadway is one of Woody Allen's breeziest and funniest comedies, while at the same time exploring dark themes about an artist's commitment to his art. The artist in Bullets over Broadway is playwright David Shayne (Cusack), who is able to finance his latest play by agreeing to a Faustian deal with mobster Nick Valenti (Viterelli). Valenti will provide the finance only if his girlfriend Olive Neal (Tilly) can play one of the featured roles. This wouldn't be an issue if Olive had any sort of acting ability, which she does not. After a brief bout with his conscience, David finds he can live with this concession.
The play, titled God of Our Fathers (whatever that means), is an overwritten, overwrought drama with its actors speaking lines they don't understand and a story they can't follow. The lead is fading Broadway star Helen Sinclair (Wiest, in her second Oscar-winning role), who seduces a willing David into cheating on his live-in girlfriend (Parker). While David and Helen do the rumpy-pumpy, Olive's bodyguard Cheech (Palminteri) sits in the darkened theater listening to this dreck on stage and one day, he makes suggestions which the cast agrees with even if David does not. It turns out that Cheech isn't just hired muscle, but someone with creative instincts that will make the play better if David can see past his own ego. Soon, David works with Cheech on daily rewrites in which David's unspeakable dialogue is rewritten into English. David of course doesn't let anyone know that Cheech is helping him and Cheech doesn't tell anyone because he fears it may ruin his reputation as a hired gun for Valenti.
Allen populates Bullets over Broadway with eccentric characters such as Warner Purcell (Broadbent), the leading man who gives new meaning to the term "stress eater", Eden Brent (Ullman), the ingenue co-star who likes to carry her dog with her everywhere, and David's friend and fellow writer Sheldon Flender (Reiner-who directed Cusack in The Sure Thing and Stand by Me), who takes pride in being unpublished and mediocre who believes an artist creates his own moral universe. The cast is a true standout ensemble, with each allowed their own shining moments. My favorite character is Cheech, who carries himself with a no bullshit approach to life and who is, if Allen's definition is correct, the only true artist in the entire movie. You'll see what I mean. Who woulda thunk it?
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