Product Details

• Actors: Dan Aykroyd, Helen Hunt, Charlize Theron, Woody Allen, David Ogden Stiers
• Directors: Woody Allen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: DreamWorks Home Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: September 10, 2002
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CY69
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,308 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Woody Allen pays another visit to his idealized past, and his retro blend of humor and nostalgia will surely satisfy the filmmaker's most loyal fans. Like The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, and Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is physically impeccable: its period-perfect costumes and sets capture 1940 New York with splendid authenticity and are further enhanced by the burnished glow of Zhao Fei's cinematography. And like those earlier films, Jade Scorpion mines comedic gold from its timeframe, molding it into a plot laced with expert zingers that could only spring from a keen awareness of comedic tradition. Add an appealing roster of costars (including Elizabeth Berkley and Charlize Theron) and you've got vintage Woody that perks right along.

The movie's also as trivial as it is engaging; hack off 30 minutes and it might have had the delirious precision of early Marx Brothers classics. Instead, Allen's goofy conceit--enemies falling in love by hypnotic suggestion--is stretched to absurdity when efficiency expert Betty Ann "Fitz" Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt) is hypnotically attracted to seasoned insurance investigator C.W. Briggs (Allen), despite their office enmity. Plus, a jewel-heist caper masterminded by the nightclub hypnotist (David Ogden Stiers) casts them both as suspects! Woody harvests a bumper crop of old-fashioned laughs from this predicament, and despite their conspicuous age difference and occasional awkward delivery, Hunt and Allen exchange volleys of dialogue like a seasoned comedy team. Dan Aykroyd is also good in a stodgy supporting role, but Jade Scorpion remains a mixed blessing--a welcomed throwback to comedy's yesteryear, from a master funnyman who's struggling to maintain relevance in the present. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Woody Allen's latest comedy, set in an auburn-colored and jazz-haunted past, looks good, but the picture feels attenuated, redundant, and trivial. Dressed in a fedora and a loosened tie, Allen plays a garrulous nineteen-forties insurance investigator (a sort of crotchety, self-pitying Edward G. Robinson). Helen Hunt is the newly hired office-efficiency expert (a Rosalind Russell type, except blond). They meet, hate each other, and engage in baroquely phrased period insults that allegedly hide their true attraction. The plot turns on the manipulations of a mesmerist (David Ogden Stiers) who intones magical words into the telephone, causing people to fall into trances and commit crimes. This may be funny when seen once, but when it becomes the central plot device it's remarkably uninteresting-hardly worth the attention Allen gives it. Woody himself is looking a little worn, and his flirting, however acidly, with an actress almost thirty years younger than himself (Charlize Theron) becomes embarrassing. You have to enjoy the movie (if you can) as a put-on, not as the romantic comedy it's intended to be. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Allen Scores With "Scorpion", February 18, 2002

By 

Reviewer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (DVD)

Doing a period piece seems to put Woody Allen at the top of his game, possibly because he has the intrinsic ability to capture a specific time and place and make a truly transporting experience out of it. Which is exactly what he's done with "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," which he not only wrote and directed, but stars in, as well. Set in 1940, it's the story of CW Briggs (Allen), an investigator for an insurance company which, despite the exemplary achievements of CW has been slipping at the bottom line, forcing the company's exec., Chris Magruder (Dan Aykroyd), to call upon the services of an efficiency expert, Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt). But there's a problem right from the start, in that CW and Betty Ann simply do not hit it off. And the situation is quickly exacerbated when a rash of thefts-- involving millions of dollars worth of jewelry and goods-- begins to occur among clients for whom the company has installed security systems. An inside job is suspected, and to CW's chagrin, more outside help is brought in. So now CW has to contend with that, as well as his new nemesis, Betty Ann; and the way he sees it, there's only one way to fix it all: Solve the case. And with that, the hunt is on...

Character and dialogue driven, Allen's film is loaded with atmosphere and detail that really puts you in the story; you can almost feel Bogart's presence in such films as "The Big Sleep" and "The Maltese Falcon," the spirits of which permeate this film. The dialogue is snappy and clever-- some of Allen's best ever-- and he presents it all in a way that sustains interest and makes it thoroughly involving and entertaining. In fact, it's the ongoing banter between CW and Betty Ann that really makes this one click, and it's perfectly delivered, with timing by Allen and Hunt that is right on the mark.

This is the most screen time Allen has had, himself, in some time, and he's good; his trademark neurotic groping-for-a-word delivery is tempered and finely tuned, which makes his character entirely credible. Allen is looking older, but he's growing into his age well, and actually has a much less disheveled appearance here than usual, which has seemingly been an innate trait of his regardless of the role he's playing. And, though there have been films of his that one could say simply had too much "Woody" in them, that is not the case here. It's a good performance, his scenes with Hunt are alive, and he has some moments with Charlize Theron that are even better.

Hunt does a great job, too; Betty Ann is a bit like her Darcy McGuire in "What Women Want," but with a harder, more intimidating edge that works well for this character. She manages to make Betty Ann both feminine and feminist at the same time, reminiscent of some of the characters that Davis, Crawford and Stanwyck played so successfully in films past. There's some obvious chemistry at work in her scenes with Allen-- the one in which they are hypnotized is hilarious-- but it's absent in her screen time with Aykroyd, though it may have more to do with their respective characters than anything. And it's refreshing to see a strong female character to whom Allen's character can relate on a personal level that, though it involves conflict, is devoid of his typically neurotic and paranoid responses. They may not like each other, but CW at least relates to Betty Ann in a very straightforward manner. It has to do with the way the characters were written, of course, but part of it is in the way Hunt transfers the Betty Ann found on the page into a real person.

One of the highlights of this film is the performance by Charlize Theron, in which, as Laura Kensington, she is transformed into the second coming of Lauren Bacall. Laura is the epitome of the femme fatale, in the way she looks, speaks and moves; you keep waiting for her to say "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve?" It's a supporting role that actually affords Theron comparatively little screen time, but she makes the most of it, and she is certainly a memorable asset to the film.

Also effective in a small, but pivotal role, is David Ogden Stiers, as Volton, a part that would have been so perfect for the late Orson Welles. In the absence of Welles, however, Stiers does a very commendable job.

Allen put together a terrific supporting cast for this one, including John Schuck (Mize), Elizabeth Berkley (Jill), Wallace Shawn (George), John Tormey (Sam), Kaili Vernoff (Rosie), Brian Markinson (Al) and Peter Gerety (Ned). There's an inspired precision to this film, in the way Allen blends the story, characters and music (such a big part of creating that necessary atmosphere) that makes "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" something of a minor classic in the Allen canon. Aficionados of the classic films of this period will be especially delighted with this one, but anyone who appreciates a film that is well crafted and delivered and provides some solid entertainment will be satisfied, as well. Allen geared this film to a specific audience (albeit fairly wide), and for those who fall within it's parameters, it's right on target. One has to wonder, though, why he didn't film it in glorious black & white, which would have been so perfect. But taken as it is, it's still a part of the magic of the movies.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Woody's Bob Hope Movie!, April 2, 2002

By 

Kenneth M. Gelwasser (Hollywood, Fl USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (DVD)

The first time I saw "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion " in the theatre I disliked it.At the time it seemed over talky and had a claustrophobic feel to it. Woody looked way off on this one.I felt bad because usually I'm a huuuge Woody fan! But the second time I saw the film on DVD, it was a totally different experience. I found this movie to be the perfect companion for the small screen.It just works in this medium."The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" is Woody's homage to all those old 1940's Bob Hope movies. You know the ones where Bob is one way or another a cowardly private eye constantly getting into danger and falling in with pretty girls who are usually smarter then he is.Think "My Favorite Blonde".In this 40's period film, Woody plays an investigator for an insurance firm who is constantly at verbal odds with the company's acerbic, efficiancy expert named Betty Ann Fitzgerald (well played by Helen Hunt).One night at a company party, in a night club,the pair are brought on stage and hypnotized for the amusement of the audience.All is well, until we later find out that Voltan,the hypnotist, is an evil crook. He has never released the two from their hypnotic suggestion and goes on to use them to steal Jewels from the wealthy clients of the insurance company.This slight plot, which easily could have been lifted from an 1940s short serial,is really an excuse for Allen and Hunt to go at each other with a series of hilarious exchanges and fights that remind me of verbal sparring matches in movies such as "The Front Page" and "Women of the Year". Allen and Hunt are backed by an excellent supporting cast that include stand out performances from Dan Aykroyd, Charlize Theron, Wallace Shawn, Elizabeth Berkley and David Ogden Stiers as the evil Voltan.One of the most wonderful features of this film is it's 1940s retro look and feeling.The cinematography and art direction are amazing!It is a really beautiful looking film, which also accuratly gets it's historical period.You feel like your watching an original, old technicolor movie, that would appear on the 'Late Show'at 2am.This is hardly one of the most important movies to come from the Woody Allen film cannon ("Manhattan, "Annie Hall", Hannah & Her Sisters"), but I will reccomend it to anyone, who wants an evening of old fashion, light-weight, fun entertainment on the small screen.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good film, September 6, 2005

By 

musicfan "musicfan" (australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (DVD)

This is a good film. The attention to detail in set design is excellent and the dialogue is witty. Perhaps more could have been made of the relationship between Woody's character and that of Charlie Therzon. They cerainly seem to have more of an onscreen electricity than Allen and Hunt. Hunt looks like she was dissapointed she wasn't in a more introspective Allen movie with a bit more weight, rather than a funny, period piece. Still the movie is very watchable and certainly deserving of more than the one and a half stars it was given in the all movie guiide.