Product Details

• Actors: Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Alfonso Arau, Brian Brophy
• Directors: Alfonso Arau
• Producers: Picking Up the Pieces
• Format: Import, PAL, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Filmax
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PSYQ2U
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #635,508 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Teaser(s), Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: A crime of passion unwittingly leads to a 'miracle' in this satirical comedy. Tex (Woody Allen) is a butcher who is married to Candy (Sharon Stone), a former exotic dancer who has no skill or enthusiasm for fidelity. Unhappy with her extramarital affairs, Tex kills Candy while performing a 'sawing the woman in half' trick with her during a magic show. Tex tries to bury the pieces of Candy's body on the outskirts of town before anyone can find out the trick was real, but he makes the mistake of losing one of Candy's hands along the way; a blind woman happens upon it, and when she can suddenly and miraculously see, she's convinced she's found the hand of the Holy Virgin. Father Jerome (David Schwimmer), the priest of the local Catholic church, isn't so sure, but the town's mayor (Cheech Marin) is more than happy to have hundreds of tourists coming into town to see a holy relic, and word of the miraculous hand spreads like wildfire. However, Sheriff Bobo (Kiefer Sutherland) is convinced the severed hand appeared through foul play, and Tex is eager to retrieve it before anyone finds out who was once attached to it. Picking Up the Pieces, which also features Fran Drescher, Eddie Griffin, Andy Dick, and Elliott Gould, had its American premiere on the Cinemax premium cable network after the film's controversial themes prevented it from getting a distribution deal with a U.S. studio. ...Picking Up the Pieces

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch a Great Film that Never Made it to the Big Screen, September 18, 2000

By 

CinemaNET - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picking Up the Pieces (DVD)

Mexican Director Alfonso Arau provides an exquisite movie. We could say it's a "mystical comedy", that mixes magical reality with fearless satire. An ironic piece, mainly about religion in a small town in New Mexico.

With an extraordinary cast that includes David Schwimmer ("Friends"), María Grazia Cucinotta, Cheech Marin, Kiefer Sutherland, Angélica Aragón, Alfonso Arau, Sharon Stone and Woody Allen, "Picking Up the Pieces" provides really cutting edge humor, not for everybody's taste.

Due to distribution problems, the movie was not released in theaters. It was shown on Cinemax for a few months, but it was originally intended for the big screen. Therefore, this DVD version is actually the closest chance for the public to enjoy it as it was conceived.

This independent film was produced by the Kushner-Locke Company, and it's about a kosher butcher (Woody Allen playing as Woody Allen) sick and tired of his unfaithful wife (Stone), up to the point where he kills her and cuts her into pieces. On his way to bury her remains he loses a hand, that is found by a blind woman that recovers sight. From then on the hand performs all kind of miracles among the unhabitants of "El Niño".

A very original "piece" you should "pick up".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great DARK comedy, June 16, 2011

By 

Pellaca (Another boring suburb) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picking Up the Pieces (DVD)

This has just got to be one of the funniest dark comedies ever made! Alternately satirical and sweet, hilarious, and insightful. Almost no institution is safe from the satire- but religion, moral hypocrisy & good old human greed are the primary targets, artfully intertwined into a very clever and entertaining story line.

It is also one of the few movies featuring Woody Allen that he didn't write & direct. But the cast (as well as the plot) has as much variety as a typical Allen flik-- David Schwimmer, Sharon Stone, Kiefer Southerland, Cheech Marin, Andy Dick, Fran Drescher, and the gorgeous Maria Grazia Cucinotta, to name a few.

In reading the negative reviews for this flik, it would seem that thinly-disguised (or even overt) "moral indignation" over the subject matter is the main reason for their discontent. Hmm. Methinks they doth protest a bit too much? Can't help but wonder how many of these folks would have the same viewpoint about "The Trouble with Harry", "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Eating Raoul", "Manhattan Murder Mystery", or any of the myriad of other dark comedies about murder and its aftermath.

Oh, but right-- THOSE flix don't make fun of religion... and its mindless, mercenary followers. Hits a few sore spots, does it?

Of course, one would have to excuse anyone who's had a family member or friend that was killed, for finding the movie distasteful... but then, ANY flick about murder would be out of bounds for them, light comedy or otherwise. Everyone else needs to revisit the definition of "dark comedy", before bitching and whining so much. This film is really, really funny!

Oh, and for the guy who said "stupidity is not funny". . . Gee, I wonder what Laurel & Hardy, the Stooges, or the Marx Brothers would say about that, considering they made an entire career out of lampooning the basic stupidity of all people? In fact, I'd say that a good 75% of humor involves laughing at the stupidity and misfortune of "others" (and therefore ourselves)-- and that's a very conservative estimate.

Listen-- if you're not squeamish about religious satire, and you don't mind comedy regarding body parts, sex, and mindless greed, you'll laugh your butt off. Otherwise, stick to Bambi, or a sappy John Wayne movie, or The Ten Commandments, or whatever else floats your boat.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what one may expect from the cover, July 25, 2001

By 

"scarlet_milady" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picking Up the Pieces [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie starts with a man (Woody Allen) trying to dispose of the remains of his wife (Sharon Stone) in a small town in New Mexico. He cut her into seven pieces when raged by her continuous cheating. Everything would have gone well, if he didn't lose his wife's hand on the way. The people from the village found this hand and it started to perform miracles for anyone who asked...

I was much disappointed by this movie. The cover makes one expect a light comedy. It was not so, Picking Up the Pieces was at times very slow and overall not really funny. There was too much packed all at once but, in my opinion, the biggest fault of the movie was the sound effects: the dialogues and monologues were quiet and unclear. So were the relationship and morals of people.

I liked the character portrayed by Maria Gracia Cucinotta. Nevertheless, despite the fact that she was good for it, it should have been developed more in the movie. She is a prostitute who decides to change her profession and that decision is a bigger miracle than any performed by the hand at the same time to people surrounding her. This miracle came from within and the things done by the hand were all physical. The idea of this movie had a lot of possibilities that were wasted. I would not recommend paying money for watching this movie.