User reviews

Woody bares his soul--again--and if the introspective vision of the sad clown (growing old) isn't what you're expecting, the film is likely to be a disappointment. The film is funny, of course, and vulgar (as most Allen movies are), but it's also bitter and cynical, and rather sad.

The jerky jump-cuts might be a stylized editing cover-up for jumping from take to take to utilise the best performances of a pantheon of actors, or they might be planned...I don't know. I had to see a few of them before I settled into accepting them as "the style", but I decided they work in this film.

Other "user comments" complain about Woody and the sexy young women. That bothers me in some films, but not here. Here it's part of Harry's character--part of Woody's "character"--and is clearly part of his problem.

I think this is an honest film, a sad and revealing film about one of the most clever and creative writers in America. It's funny, it's witty, and it's also depressing. It has moments of pure, laugh-out-loud humour (eg. the elevator going down to the bottom floor of hell; Harry arriving at the honouring ceremony with a dead body, a prostitute, and his "kidnapped" son in the car), but underneath it's the story of a man who cannot function happily in real life, only in the fictions he creates. Although fantasy plays a major role in the story, the story is not a fantasy. The parallels between Allen himself and the character and plot he's created here are obvious.

I enjoyed watching this video, and would recommend it-- selectively--to friends. If you like the Allen sense of humour, want to see a fairly unusual editing style used effectively, want to see some superb acting cameos by some very talented actors, or have an interest in the torments of a neurotic middle-aged genius and how they might be revealed on film, then you'll like this movie. If this doesn't sound like your kind of thing, watch something else.

Regardless of what Woody Allen may do in real life, he surely shines through his films. Just like the main character in this film who can't seem to get personal matters resolved, Allen faces the same predicament each day. He lets his films do the talking and stays away from the limelight. Deconstructing Harry does him justice in a few sequences as to what he feels and how the media treats him.

This film showcases some of Allen's better quirks when it comes to storywriting and directing. The much used "jump cut" effect helps to create a world that is disjointed from all else. When things are going fine, there are no jump cuts. However when things are less than opportune jump cuts add confusion to the scene and are used more often as the tension increases. The "out of focus" effect is the first of its kind and is very funny. The Robin Williams cameo didn't have much meaning, but his scene was one of the funniest due to him losing his touch. The same effect is used on Allen himself later in the film in another hillarious scene.

The storyline has many layers and isn't at all confusing (as others may have you believe) to the viewer. The use of actors portraying actors in this film is pure Allen genius and is another way that this film differs itself from the crowd. It is not so much that one follows along to see what happens to Harry, but rather to see what is going to happen next. When Allen needs an entourage to go to his alma mater honouring, he ends up taking a very unlikely group. The humour is at times crude and pokes fun at his usual groups (ie - ultraorthodox jews, hookers, WASP's and just about everyone else).

Allen uses his interesting techniques and smart plot to make this such a good film. One can only wonder how he always gets the foxes. At least he got Billy Crystal to play the devil. How fitting.

8/10 stars.

Just as I've found a newfound appreciation for Elvis Costello, I've likewise opened my heart to Woody Allen (my New Year's resolution: be nicer to nerdy art-types). I even saw Deconstructing Harry twice, (after which I read a Woody Allen collection of short pieces and rented both Bananas and Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex). Hey, what can I say – I thought The Purple Rose Of Cairo might've been a fluke, but I guess I'm just a Woody Allen fan now.

Deconstructing Harry is laugh-out-loud funny, tracing the steps of Harry Block, a neurotic, foul-mouthed, Jewish, self-hating, pill-popping, womanizing alcoholic (three wives and six therapists later) that oddly enough, resembles Woody Allen and his own life (give or take a few things). Block has (giggle) writer's block, and can't write about his life. As a result, he becomes `unfocused,' entangling himself in fact and fiction (i.e. he interacts with his own characters). `You expect the world to adjust to the distortion you've become,' Harry's analyst tells him. What follows is a series of skits that interact with the past and present and the real and imagined – it's kind of like watching a Kurt Vonnegut story edited by Quentin Tarentino.

The all-star cast is phenomenal: Robin Williams is hilarious, Kirstie Alley is hysterically funny, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is super-sexy and Elizabeth Shue is as sweet as sugar. Billy Crystal even pulls off a good role as the Devil. But other than the characterization, Woody's new flick is witty, cold-hearted, extremely vulgar, often tasteless and perfectly profane with enough catch-lines to keep film buffs cracking for years (`I always keep a little hooker money around'). Hannah And Her Sisters this ain't!

By all means, Deconstructing Harry will divide, and has divided, viewers, people may be put off by the odd cuts, the (deliberately) fragmented story and the crass language(which will be a shock even for Woody Allen fans). Personally though Deconstructing Harry was a great film and among the best of Allen's 90s output and among his best overall as well. True, the pacing is too erratic in places but compared to how truly brilliant everything else that made no difference to me. The film may not be as visually beautiful as, say, Manhattan and Purple Rose of Cairo(but it was never was meant to be, it's not that kind of film), but while the photography may be deemed odd by some with the jump cuts it was really interesting and fitted perfectly with the subject matter. The scenery and such are lovely and authentic as usual. The soundtrack again, as is true of Allen, is very well chosen and catchy and never feels misplaced. The humour and script are very, very crass and scathing which was a shock to me on first viewing and for other people as well seeing as Allen has never been more bitter, but is so cleverly written and hilarious with a tinge of sadness the approach works wonders. Allen has plenty to say here and he doesn't hold anything back and presents it bluntly, it seems that he was having troubles personally(like Stardust Memories where he showed frustration at his critics except that was done much more subtly) at the same and there is that sense here. The story is unusually structured and very ambitious, almost fragmented, but never to the state of incoherence, and there are some really effective and hilarious scenes like the explicit sex scene and the one in hell. The character relationships are beautifully and insightfully done and the characters are written scathingly but not to the point of completely hating them(the mistake that Anything Else did). The acting is great from everyone, Kirstie Alley is cute and funny, Elizabeth Shue is sweet while not being too sugary, Robin Williams is just hilarious and Billy Crystal is devilishly good, pun intended. But Allen is the one who deserves a lot of the credit here, Deconstructing Harry has some of his most unique direction, perhaps a very close second to Zelig, and one of his best performances too. Overall, personal, daring, blistering and hilarious, one of Woody Allen's better films but one of his most divisive and (to me and quite a lot of other fans) under-valued. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

I think it's funny (but natural in a way) that people insist on reading Woody Allen films as autobiographical even when he insists they are not. I think it's especially funny with this film since Harry isn't really much like Allen at all.

This is kind of my problem with the film.

It's clear that Allen often comes up with ideas for films that loosely relate to his own life. This film deals with, among other things, the fact that being good at creating art that speaks to the human condition doesn't easily translate to being good at living among actual humans. I'm quite sure that resonates strongly with Allen.

But to turn this into a story, Allen creates this exaggerated Philip Roth-style novelist who drinks excessively, is extremely vulgar, and is a compulsive womanizer ... and since Allen plays this role people call the film "extremely self-critical". This character isn't Allen.

It's so much Allen that I just don't buy him in the role. Allen is a very self-consciously cerebral actor, and whenever he tries playing anything earthy, I completely reject him. I just do ... so very little of this film works for me. It's not a bad film ... in fact it's probably one of his better films of the 90's (which is not a very strong decade for him).

The weird staccato editing trick is a complete failure. Every time it happened I wanted to shout "STOP!" at the screen.

It isn't as lovable as "Annie Hall" or "Hannah and Her Sisters," and it's not as overtly philosophical as "Crimes and Misdemeanors." And that's probably why "Deconstructing Harry" is underrated by film/Allen fans. Still, it ranks among the Top 5 Allen films. Woody plays a Philip Roth-like fiction writer who is lecherous, unlikable, and disloyal; in dropping his "cute loser" shtick, the performance rings with more honesty than he's had in years. In a nod to Bergman's "Wild Strawberries," Allen's character has a chance to reflect on his life as he travels to a university for an honor. Memories mix with scenes this writer's fiction, providing opportunities for the large and excellent ensemble cast. Many of Allen's later films seem tired, but the neurotic jumpiness he brings to "Deconstructing Harry" reinjects energy into his work. If you loved "Husbands and Wives," try this. I rate it 9.

I have been looking forward to seeing this film for quite a while, and when I finally had a chance I was pretty quick to take it up. As I started it, I regretted it immediately, I was bored and annoyed. Towards the end, it began to grow on me, but a lot just didn't do it for me.

What I liked: I absolutely love the concept and the story. I have not seen any like it. What I like most is that while there is an actual plot and external events, it's more of a character study. They take an unlikable character and give him plenty of depth and sympathy to make up for his brash decisions and opinions. I love Woody Allen as a writer. I also liked the short stories; how they were narrated, the actual relevance they had to Harry's problems and friends, and how they were somewhat diverse. It wasn't just about the message. I both liked and disliked the scenes where they would cut to the same shot. It is very reminiscent of Jean- Loc Goddard's Breathless, which at times gave it a very relaxed, more realistic feel, considering that you could interpret that there were probably moments of silence between conversation, like something that happens in real conversation. However, when you cut in mid-sentence or make too many quick cuts, it's distracting and annoying to try and listen.

What I hated: While I love that film is about Harry Block, I hated him. His guts, his obsession with sex, and the fact that he is so damn awkward. I hate Woody Allen as an actor. I appreciate when people stutter, pause, mix up words, or ramble in movies because that's what people do in real life. However, Woody Allen takes it and makes it absolutely obnoxious. His arms flail around, he never makes eye contact (or keeps his eyes on the road while driving).

Overall, the word I would use to describe this movie is 'inconsistent,' with some scene being very funny and entertaining, while others made me want to scratch my DVD apart.

In a string of films that recapitulate familiar themes, this one stands out as perhaps the loudest cry of anguish and self-loathing, and it's a comedy.

Where Woody Allen has paid serious hommages to other artists' bleak "heaviosity" (his word) and inevitably come up short, here he does a blistering comic riff on two of the greatest films of the 20th century, Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" and Fellini's "8½."

The parallels to the Bergman film are obvious and much discussed. The bits of Fellini are less often recognized, including the complaining wife, the impossible mistress, other people's demands creating a totally chaotic existence, closing with a yearning fantasy of getting everybody in his life together in one place and time to create harmony and wholeness. In Woody's version, we even have a double for Mia in the reunion, as if some kind of healing reconciliation were possible.

So Woody hits the wall, looks at his life, can't stand any of it and rips the bark off his own skin. What can seem like self-indulgence in other films is not forgiven here. He writes scathing, vituperative attacks on himself for other character's mouths and the viewer can only gape.

Lots of fun, but not for the whole family.

The only mystery is why, at the time I write this, Imdb singles out such a lame misfire of a slam for the first page of this movie's entry. Just about anybody else who has posted has a better understanding of the film.

I saw this movie a view times. I would agree that this is not the best of his movies. However, it is still superior to most Hollywood garbage. The kind of honest writing that this movie has that seems down to earth and not full of cheap tactics to grab the audience's attention is an example of why I still love Woody Allen movies. I have very few complaints about his work although my favorite films are definitely over 10 to 15 years old. I would still recommend it to Woody Allen fans.

The film making is thought provoking. the film's characters' life is hectic, disorganized and falling apart at the seams, Meanwhile his creative works are organized and stable. If you watch closely you will notice that the camera work is jumpy, chaotic and unstable during the scenes that depict his personal life. The camera work in The scenes that are depicting the stories written by the main character are steady, organized and calm. I thought it was still pretty rare to find something this thoughtful in a movie.

I think that Allen may be getting progressively self-indulgent. I think it is a little painful to see him pairing himself with gorgeous blonds and other young model types ("curse of the Jade Scorpion" and "Hollywood ending" are great examples). For the simple reason that one of his best qualities in his comedy was his self-deprecating style that seemed to differentiate himself from the run of the mill "movie star films". This being said, this movie is not a good example of his increasing self-indulgence.

It actually shows Woody loose the girl to a younger (Crystal who really isn't that young) more hip man-of-the-world. In this film, you see the character having to face reality, which pains him because he can only functionally exist in a world of fantasy. This is interesting content.

Part of the problem is there are such great expectations with such an all star cast (Williams and Crystal for example). I would say this is far from his ground-breaking work. The jokes aren't that hilarious and the acting is just "OK" ,with the exception of the more relaxed/sincere scenes with Bob Balaban. It is still 10 times more intelligent than the average movie. Movies that has to use buckets of blood and flashes of naked bodies just to keep you awake.

I would not recommend this movie for anyone with a short attention span. In fact I wouldn't recommend this film unless you have seen Woody's earlier films first (like Bananas, Annie Hall etc). However, I am a fan of Woody's writing and film making and I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Woody Allen has created some excellent movies in his time, but I honestly believe that he misfired badly with this one. As someone said, this movie is vulgar. It leaves a very bad taste and gives me the impression that he was thinking of his relationship with Mia Farrow when he wrote it. Woody Allen can do much better than this and has done so on many occasions. The first time I saw ANOTHER WOMAN, I was disappointed. But in the few times that I've seen it since, I've come to enjoy it much more. I hope that that is the case with DECONSTRUCTING HARRY. I just hated this.

I'm sure some people wouldn't agree with me, but this movie is a great piece of art on film. Like Hitchcock, Coppola, and others, Woody Allen is a real cinema artist. He makes great use of the possibilities of cinema without losing himself in expensive special effects.

Of course cinema is a medium to create a near-perfect realism on a fictional story. But it can also be an artistic medium. Playing with the possibilities. An example in this film is Robin Williams. A men who is 'out of focus'.

The story is, like most films, not very original. A character that struggles with his personality and social life. But unlike most movies, you can see an artist made this film. It's a Woody Allen creation. His own style, his own characters, his own humor. Not a collection of an expensive scriptwriter with an expensive director, an expensive special effects team , an expensive director of photography etc. to make a total non-personal creation for the big public. Of course the whole crew did a perfect job, but it is surely a Woody Allen film!

A great movie with a nice plot. Some nice switching in timeline and fiction / reality (for the story that is) makes it more interesting then the story really is. Also the jumpcuts, the camera movement, the cast and the humor are making this film a must see! Even if you are not a Woody Allen fan you will like this movie. If you are a fan of big blockbuster movies (standard Hollywood confention movies) this movie is a must see as well! Not only to see the real art of cinema (something different then perfect special effects) but also just for a nice evening and some good humor.

I read one critic that said in this film, Allen was taking everything bad anyone had ever written about him and put it into this movie, and that's not far off the mark. This is, in essence, STARDUST MEMORIES redux, and since that is by far my least favorite Allen film, I was hesitant towards this film. In addition to the whiny tone of that film (Oh, I'm so successful, I have women throwing themselves at me, my life is so empty!), we get the self-flagellation of this film (not only is my life so empty, I'm such a bastard!). What makes it watchable are three things; firstly, Allen at least seems to recognize the hypocrisy of whining, secondly, the film seamlessly weaves between fantasy and reality, between real life and fiction, and finally, it's often very funny. It also contains the best work either Billy Crystal or Demi Moore have done in a while. Not vintage Allen, but it'll make you laugh. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking it has something "important" to say.

Deconstructing Harry is Woody Allen's masterpiece. The editing is unlike anything else Allen has done, full of little cuts which give the movie a level of abstraction that raises you above the narrative thread. It was instantly my favorite Allen film and has remained so ever since. Praised when it came out for its unflinching honesty, it eschews the self-glorifying cuteness of his other quasi-autobiographical movies such as Stardust Memories and Annie Hall and even Manhattan.

The main conceit of this movie is that Allen's character, writer Harry Block (get it?), meets his alter egos and other characters from his writing as though in real life. Block's characters have been modeled with almost no attempt to disguise them on his relatives and ex-relationships, which infuriates and sometimes devastates them. You have to follow very carefully to distinguish the "real life" relatives from the alter egos who spring to life from the pages of his books.

Block has many very seamy weaknesses and peccadilloes which he readily admits and indulges without remorse. His "real life" relatives and exes submit him to scathing criticism and resentment, while their "fictional" counterparts contribute a more dispassionate and omniscient commentary on Block's misdeeds and poor judgment. The cast is among Allen's most star-studded and uniformly brilliant. It's always fun to watch actors appearing in their only Allen film, and there are many here. My favorite is Billy Crystal, who plays a friend of Block's who stole his lover--and also appears as the devil giving Block the cook's tour of the tenth circle of Hell.

To maintain this complexity of voices requires brilliant writing, and Allen does not disappoint. My favorite quote is:

Doris: Your whole life, it's nihilism, it's cynicism, it's sarcasm and orgasm.

Block: You know, in France, I could run on that slogan and win.

If I were one for condescendingly dogmatic assertions, and I'm not, but if I were, I would tell you that if you do not love this movie, you are watching Woody Allen movies for the wrong reasons.

For the record, rounding out my top five Allen movies are: Mighty Aphrodite, Bullets Over Broadway, Small Time Crooks, and Stardust Memories, with honorable mention to Shadows and Fog.

`Deconstructing Harry'. **1/2. (1997, USA, R, 95 min. Directed, written by, and starring Woody Allen with Elisabeth Shue, Demi Moore, Billy Crystal and everyone else that's been in a Woody Allen movie plus some new ones). Do you like the Woody Allen sense of humor? If yes, you'll find something to like and something to hate in `Deconstructing Harry.' This isn't the best of Woody Allen. But I like Woody Allen movies because I can usually find some perverted joke or some commentary on religion, sex, women, life, or whatever to tickle my fantasy. And in `Deconstructing Harry' Demi Moore has a line that's worth the price of admission.

Harry Block (Allen) is having writer's block. He's spent the advance from his publisher. He's between wives/women. He's divorced and his girlfriend (Shue) is about to run off and marry one of his best friends (Crystal). One of his ex-wives won't let him take his son to an award ceremony. (He's getting an honorary degree at the college from which he never graduated.) Block, another friend and a $500/night hooker kidnap his 10 year old son and leave New York City (Are Woody Allen movies ever set anywhere else?) for upstate New York. All the while this story is evolving, Block is thinking about his past and his past is played out as a series of flashbacks to `real' events with the `real' people. Other times the flashbacks are from scenes in his books and short stories where the characters are thinly disguised portrayals of the `real' people in Block's life. Clever? Not really. Amusing? Yeah.

Anyway back to Demi Moore. She is a book character that's `really' one of his ex-wives. After they are married for a while, she becomes very religious. She has to bless everything and the blessings are all in Hebrew. I'm assuming it is Hebrew. She blesses the food before eating; she blesses the cup before drinking. But when she asks the blessing before performing fellatio and we hear this Hebrew pray with the vernacular for the one word I assume isn't Hebrew. It's funny.

`Deconstructing Harry' is so-so Woody Allen. If you're a fan, rent it. It's out on video. You'll find something you like. I did.

Very funny, very coarse, very Woody Allen. This movie not only has autobiographical elements, Harry Block to a large extent is Woody Allen himself. I think never a director exposed the weaknesses of his own "ego" as mercilessly as Woody did in this film, descending into the deepest layers of the "id", into the very depths of hell (literally, with all the molten lava and sulfur smoke that go with it)! But Woody Allen covers this merciless exercise of psychoanalysis with a thick cover of humor. It is also a very funny movie!

Here's yet another film written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen as himself. Well no, his character has a name and everything, but seriously, the guy plays the same role every time. He acts the same in everything it seems like.

His plots are often very similar. They have a certain feel to them. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's just the sort of thing you have to be in the mood for after a while. That being said, I still enjoy his movies very much. This one was a bit different, as he has a tendency to branch out a bit in his later work. It's fun and the acting is good and the plot is intriguing, even if it is predictable. It's not "just" another Woody Allen movie. It's another good one. The kid has done it again! It's nothing super special, and it may even be a little forgettable, but that just means you can watch it again sometime fresh. Recommend.

This is the last top notch film written by and starring Woody Allen. All the anxiety, wit and oddball characters are present with a touch of world weariness in the writing for good measure. The film has an editing technique which, I think, is called jump cutting. It can be somewhat disconcerting until you get used to it and realise the film isn't faulty. The main character is self centred and has no redeeming characteristics but he conveys an air of bewilderment as to why people hate him. No one else is making films like this as good as this, not even W. Allen.

Allen's homage to (and send-up of) WILD STRAWBERRIES has its pluses and minuses. It's interesting, and in a way refreshing, to see him being so blatantly crass. It's one of his darkest movies, and maybe his most cynical comedy. Some of it is riotously funny, like the confrontation with Kirstie Alley in the middle of a patient's therapy session, or his version of Hell (with Billy Crystal in one of his most enjoyable roles). But with all the little sub-stories going on, it comes off like a clearinghouse for unfinished ideas. Also, the fragmented, jerky editing (because he's being "deconstructed," get it?) is an annoying quirk that adds little. Still, there's a lots of laughs to be had and it's an interesting bit of self-deprecation combined with self-admiration.

"Deconstructing Harry" (1996) is Woody Allen's angriest, busiest, most neurotic, most complex, most personal with the funniest one-liners film that effortlessly moves from past to present, from reality to the world of imagination, and from funny bits to contemplation on serious and personal subjects so rapidly that you have to watch closely in order not to get lost in all these worlds. Allen plays Harry Block, a famous writer suffering from the writer's block and also from inability to survive in real world, to be happy and to make the people in his life happy, "Six shrinks later, three wives down the line, and I still can't get my life together". Harry can't get his life together but he can write and he has put himself and all people he knows including his wives, friends, girl-friends, and his sister into his last novel. His art imitated life so closely that real people recognized themselves in the fictional characters very easily and now Harry lives through the nightmare of confronting near everybody he has ever known as well as the fictional characters, offended, infuriated, and insulted, who all rush in anger to face him: "You have no values. With you it's all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm, and orgasm."

By its structure,"Deconstructing Harry" reminds the earlier film by one of Allen's favorite directors, Ingmar Bergman, "Wild Strawberries". As Professor Borg, Harry Block travels by car to upstate New York, where his college that expelled him as an undergraduate now wants to honor him as a world renowned belletrist. He travels by car with three unlikely companions, a hooker, a friend with bad heart, and his 9-years-old son whom he had kidnapped from school. As in "Wild Strawberries", Allen's film provides sincere, intelligent, and emotional contemplations of life's disappointment, regrets, and losses but at the same time, it is hilarious as only Allen's films can be. One of the best scenes of the film is Harry's descent on the elevator to air-conditioned Hell where in the ninth circle he meets the Devil who looks very much like Billy Crystal. Another wonderful scene concerns a married couple where after thirty years of happy uneventful marriage a wife learns some interesting eating habits from her husband's previous life. I can go on for long time. As often in the case of Allen's movies, with the modest running time of 96 minutes, "Deconstructing Harry" is expertly shot, boasts an amazing cast (Billy Crystal, Judy Davis, Bob Balaban, Elisabeth Shue, Demi Moore, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobey Maguire, and Stanley Tucci just to name a few), and is in my opinion one of the most interesting and personal Allen's films.

I really disliked this movie. I'll confess firstly to not being the biggest Woody Allen fan. However this movie was much worse than I expected.

Woody Allen plays Harry Block, a self-absorbed, over-sexed, alcoholic writer who has had a series of failed marriages and relationships. The story centers on the way in which Harry writes novels which are so loosely autobiographical that all his family and friends immediately know that they are the inspiration for the characters in his books. This leads to a constant stream of anger and name calling being directed at Harry for having revealed confidences to the world at large.

The most disturbing aspect of the movie is the bad language which is much worse than any other Woody Allen movie I can remember. For example, Judy Davis and Kirstie Alley both have extended scenes where they simply swear at Harry using every variation of the "f" word imaginable. Another distasteful scene is a conversation between Harry and his friend Larry (played by Billy Crystal) where they talk triumphantly about having sex with "disabled girls".

This is Woody Allen at his most pathetic.

It's a shame that so much negative criticism focuses on Deconstructing Harry's bad language, because this is one of Allen's funniest, smartest and most perceptive films. In fact, it may actually be his best film full stop – only Manhattan and Crimes and Misdemeanours can challenge Harry. But although the bad language and crudity may affect some people's enjoyment of the film, for me, as someone who loves bad taste, it's a major benefit, especially as it's a side of Allen we rarely see. I mean, we're used to the romantic Allen and the neurotic Allen, and we've even had serious Allen, but here you have Allen almost becoming Philip Roth. It's very enjoyable to watch.

In this film, Allen's alter ego is Harry Block, a writer in the mould of Philip Roth who, in the words of one his exes, turns everyone else's suffering into literary gold. And this assertion is corroborated by the opening scene, a section from one his books where a man and a woman who are having an affair, during a barbecue, decide to have sex in a bathroom while their spouses are eating in the garden. It's a very funny scene, especially as an attempted blow-job is interrupted by a false alarm (the woman grinds her teeth when the man spots his wife) and as some doggy-style sex is interrupted by the woman's blind grandmother coming into the room (when asked what's happening, the woman tells her grandmother that she's making Martinis while they continue banging away). But while the scene is absolutely hilarious, it does also have a point. This is a scene from Harry's life. He's using it in his work. Therefore his ex isn't too happy to find this episode in his book. Of course, Harry tries to explain that it was 'loosely based' (the grandmother was an embellishment), but that doesn't cut much ice with his ex, who's having all of the sordid details of her affair revealed to friends and family. So the film touches on ideas of a writer's responsibility. What's exploitation and what's inspiration?

One of the most revealing sections of the film is when Harry talks to his therapist. He discusses his attitude to women. "I'm always thinking of f****** every woman I meet… I see a woman on a bus. I think what she looks like naked. Is it possible I might f*** her?" Essentially Harry is a man who has never grown up. He can't commit and he can't sustain a relationship with a woman, a fact backed up by his string of exes and his affection for prostitutes. Indeed, for him, whores are perfect. You don't have to woo them, they don't nag you and they do whatever you want; all you've got to do is pay them. And in the film, Harry takes Cookie, a black prostitute ("Do you know what a black hole is?" Harry asks her. "Yeah, that's how I make my living.") with him to an honouring ceremony at his old school.

Harry also takes a friend along with him and his young son – well, he actually 'kidnaps' his son. And the whole journey, the whole act of going back to remember the past, brings back memories of stories he wrote, stories that are thinly veiled versions of actual events. One of the funniest is a story of a man who married his therapist. At first everything is great, the woman understands the man like no other woman in the world. But once they have a child she becomes "Jewish with a vengeance". No longer is she smart and funny and sexy; all of a sudden she's a dowdy nag who's rediscovered her religion. And in one hilarious moment she even prays before administering a blow-job. Again it's highly amusing, but again it has a point; Harry wants everything to remain perfect. He can't understand why people have to change. I mean, even having a child doesn't change him. He talks to his son about naming his penis. He may be getting on, but he's still really just a kid.

Harry's whole life philosophy is neatly summed up by his half-sister: "You have no values. With you it's all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm and orgasm." To which Harry quips, "Hey, in France I could run for office with that slogan, and win!" But although Harry may be deemed to be juvenile, he's entirely correct about religion. He tells his devout sister that they're clubs and that their function is to exclude people. And then he asks her whether it bothers her more when a Jew gets killed or a gentile. She says a Jew death bothers her more – "They're my people." "They're all our people," he replies. I'm with Harry. Religions are nothing but divisive. Plus they encourage people to prove how devout they are – as if you can be more Jewish than someone else, or more Catholic etc. It all becomes a competition.

But amongst all this, the only thing that Harry can do to remain sane is to write. Somehow life doesn't make any sense but fiction does. I guess it's a problem most writers have. To able to write you have to observe, but the more you observe the less you understand why people behave the way they do. Plus the more you observe the more you actually remove yourself from life. However, self-examination does allow Harry to become more perceptive as regards himself. In fact, his characters help him out a lot, as they offer insights that he couldn't possibly come up with alone. So although the film's coarse, it ends up being quite optimistic. Salvation lies within.