Fielding Mellish is a product tester who is unlucky in life and in love. When a beautiful woman turns up on his doorstep seeking signatures for a petition to the US Government to support the rebels in a small South American country, Fielding falls for her immediately. They date for a while but ultimately Nancy is put off by his lack of passion for political suffering and breaks it off with him. As part of his rebound, Fielding heads to the military dictatorship of San Marcos and manages to find himself embedded amongst the rebels as they prepare to storm the capital from the mountains.
Watching some modern Woody Allen films put me in the mood to go back to the start and watch some of his earlier films that I hadn't seen for ages or had never seen. Bananas was one of these as I don't think I had ever seen it but I had heard good things about it as it is considered one of those captured by the phrase "earlier, funnier films". Loving Love & Death and other of his films from this period, I had no reason to suspect it would not be as good as others have said, but sadly it is not. The plot is a doozey of an idea and offers so much but it is only here and there that Allen's script manages to hit this target. Outside of thee moments a lot of it is more hit and miss and a lot more sporadic in terms of the type of humour it is. We have plenty of good lines that are quite funny but too much of the film that isn't. The silent film-inspired physical comedy is a bit too obvious and relies heavily on Allen pulling faces rather than delivering inspired sequences. The film is best when it is built on smart lines but the messy plot development does keep it messy and prevents it being consistent.
Allen himself is good and does deliver some great moments as writer but ultimately he doesn't pull it together to be as roundly satisfying as some of the films he would do later. Lasser doesn't have much in the way of chemistry with him, which isn't a massive problem because she is not in a lot of the film but does limit her scenes. The rest of the cast are OK and I did enjoy the use of sports and news casters covering the action at the start and end of the film (although their dialogue is not funny enough to support the joke going on for as long as it does).
Bananas is amusing but it is far from being the classic comedy that collective wisdom will tell you that it is. It is sporadically funny across the running time but too hit and miss to really satisfy. Some random parts are funny but it cannot deliver consistent laughs this will satisfy those who love Allen to the point that they love everything he does but for the casual viewer it will be far too messy and hit/miss to satisfy and be anything other than an amusing film not a great or hilarious one.
Watching some modern Woody Allen films put me in the mood to go back to the start and watch some of his earlier films that I hadn't seen for ages or had never seen. Bananas was one of these as I don't think I had ever seen it but I had heard good things about it as it is considered one of those captured by the phrase "earlier, funnier films". Loving Love & Death and other of his films from this period, I had no reason to suspect it would not be as good as others have said, but sadly it is not. The plot is a doozey of an idea and offers so much but it is only here and there that Allen's script manages to hit this target. Outside of thee moments a lot of it is more hit and miss and a lot more sporadic in terms of the type of humour it is. We have plenty of good lines that are quite funny but too much of the film that isn't. The silent film-inspired physical comedy is a bit too obvious and relies heavily on Allen pulling faces rather than delivering inspired sequences. The film is best when it is built on smart lines but the messy plot development does keep it messy and prevents it being consistent.
Allen himself is good and does deliver some great moments as writer but ultimately he doesn't pull it together to be as roundly satisfying as some of the films he would do later. Lasser doesn't have much in the way of chemistry with him, which isn't a massive problem because she is not in a lot of the film but does limit her scenes. The rest of the cast are OK and I did enjoy the use of sports and news casters covering the action at the start and end of the film (although their dialogue is not funny enough to support the joke going on for as long as it does).
Bananas is amusing but it is far from being the classic comedy that collective wisdom will tell you that it is. It is sporadically funny across the running time but too hit and miss to really satisfy. Some random parts are funny but it cannot deliver consistent laughs this will satisfy those who love Allen to the point that they love everything he does but for the casual viewer it will be far too messy and hit/miss to satisfy and be anything other than an amusing film not a great or hilarious one.