THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO

Jeff Daniels and Mia Farrow

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985). Writer/director: Woody Allen.

"In New Jersey, anything can happen."

In a dreary small town in 1935, Cecelia (Mia Farrow) has an unhappy marriage with the often out-of-work Monk (Danny Aiello of City Hall). Cecelia seeks refuge in the movies, where she especially loves a film called The Purple Rose of Cairo, and the lead character, Tom Baxter, played by actor Gil Shepherd (Jeff Daniels). In an astonishing turn of events, "Tom Baxter" walks right off the screen and into the real world, leaving the other actors/characters in the movie standing around wringing their hands. "How many times is a man so taken with a woman that he leaves the movie just to meet her," muses Tom. Just as Cecelia, who begins a romance with the charming Tom, is trying to make sense of all this, the real Gil Shepherd, who has heard what's happened, shows up in town ... This movie and its look at how influential movies can be on real life and the necessary escape they offer may not work for everyone, but I found it charming, absorbing, and ultimately moving. The actors offer sensitive and dead-on portrayals. Van Johnson, Edward Herrmann, Zoe Cladwell, and Milo O'Shea, among others, appear in the film-within-a-film.

Verdict: Not perfect perhaps, but it remains one of Allen's most likable movies. ***.

CITY HALL

CITY HALL (1996). Director: Harold Becker.

When a cop and a lowlife kill each other in a shoot-out, a little boy is caught in the crossfire. Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack of Shadows and Fog) tries to find out why the lowlife, Tino Zapatti (Larry Romano), was out on the street when he should have been in jail. His uncle Paul (Anthony Franciosa of Wild is the Wind) is a big shot mobster, and friends with Brooklyn politico Frank Anselmo (Danny Aiello), whom he orders to frame the dead cop. Calhoun's investigation uncovers corruption that goes all the way up to a judge (Martin Landau of Mission: Impossible), who just happens to be a good friend of Mayor Pappas (Al Pacino), whom Calhoun idolizes. Now Calhoun has to figure out if the mayor is involved and how he will handle it if he is. City Hall has a workable premise, and the acting is fine, but Harold Becker's direction isn't exactly dynamic, and the movie just fails to grip the way it should. Bridget Fonda plays a lawyer who tries to help the cop's family and is fine, but the movie is practically stolen by Aiello as Anselmo.

Verdict: Tepid when it should sizzle. **1/2.