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Created Aug 04, 2013 08:11PM PST • Edited Jun 28, 2022 07:03PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Cate Blanchett transfixes in Woody Allen’s superior dramedy Blue Jasmine. Playing the Jasmine of the title, Blanchett goes from Park Avenue socialite to broken vixen in a performance that masterfully oscillates between elegance and rawness. That last almost assures her an Academy Award nomination.

   Woody’s take on the Great Recession focuses on a younger version of Ruth and Bernie Madoff, in the wake of his unmasking. Hubris, narcism and greed make for heaping helpings of schadenfreude.

   Her refined opportunism gets juxtaposed with her sister’s easygoing pluckiness, honed through a lifetime of hard-knocks. Forced together by the once-rich sister’s ignominious fall from grace, they form a study in contrasts. Disdainful vs. accepting, mendacious vs. guileless, to name two.

   Blue Jasmine isn’t a typical Woody Allen movie, being blessedly free of a nebbish-in-the-middle and focusing more on family and finances than love and death. Thus, Woody-haters can safely enter the theater. They’ll exit amused and stimulated by a master filmmaker and especially by his nonpareil leading lady.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Cate Blanchett etches another signature role into her considerable oeuvre. Playing a more theatrical and much younger Ruth Madoff, she displays effortless hauteur, blithe disdain, witchy seductiveness and – finally – a broken mind. Wow. A passel of Best Actress nominations are clearly in the offing.

   Alec Baldwin and Sally Hawkins are almost equally strong as her crooked husband and workaday sister. Baldwin’s oily charm makes him a natural as a younger and more stylish incarnation of Bernie Madoff, while Hawkins’ cheerful pluckiness is downright infectious as a put-upon sister.

   The impressive supporting cast includes:

   • Andrew Dice Clay as a blue collar husband and brother-in-law. The Diceman may be reprehensible as a comic, but he’s sure found his métier in Woody’s movie.
   • Bobby Cannavale as a blue collar boyfriend. Emotional and lovable, Cannavale improves every movie I’ve seen him in. Want proof? Win Win.
   • Max Casella as his plucky buddy. Doogie Howser’s onetime buddy has crafted an impressive adult acting career for himself, including last year’s Brad Pitt vehicle Killing Them Softly.
   • Tammy Blanchard as a Park Avenue matron.
   • Kathy Tong as a Park Avenue MILF.
   • Ali Fedotowsky as a personal trainer who provides extra services. Fedotowsky is apparently more a TV personality than an actress. Bully for her.
   • Michael Stuhlbarg as a Dentist with boundary issues.
   • Louis C.K. as a cheerfully amorous dude.
   • Peter Sarsgaard as a hell-of-a-catch.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Remember when Woody launched his first drama? No, not Soon-Yi. Interiors dummy. He’s come a long way, with Blue Jasmine an apotheosis. Confidently employing regular flashbacks, he’s deftly atop his craft. Beyond mere craftsmanship, he’s wrought a rigorous drama with the sparkle of comedy. Keep ’em coming.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Great 4.0

    One professional reviewer dinged the film for not making use of San Francisco, damning it as not having a sense of place, let alone a sense of the City by the Bay. What film did he see? Couldn’t have been the one with scenes set in the Mission, at a seafood cafe on a pier, at the Marina, walking Ocean Beach and at dream houses in Tiburon and Belvedere. Couldn’t a been that one.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Gentle 1.4

19. Rudeness Salty 1.6

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

    • Biologically, popping Xanax like Pez while swilling Stoli like water would cause a woman to die, not just have a breakdown.
    • Circumstantially, a sophisticated diplomat would certainly learn more about his fiancé before introducing her to his dignified parents, let alone buying her an engagement ring.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Glib 1.7

24. Physical Natural 1.0