“Don’t — Don’t speak. Don’t speak!”
What’s it all about? Written and directed by Woody Allen, “Bullets Over Broadway” (1994) follows an idealistic young playwright (Cusack) in 1920s New York forced to cast a mobster’s talentless girlfriend in order to get his play produced for Broadway.
It is an established fact that all men pale in comparison to John Cusack — well, at least in my mind. I fell in love with him when I was twelve years old after watching “High Fidelity” (2000). To this day, I can pretty much quote every line in the movie.
This complete adoration of Cusack pushed me toward his earlier film roles: “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “Say Anything” (1989), “Grosse Point Blank” (1997) and “Being John Malkovich” (1999). To make me sound even crazier, I remember skipping half my classes one day in high-school so that my friend and I could watch “American Sweethearts” (2001) and “Serendipity” (2001) in one of the stairwells. Yeah, I know they’re awful — completely awful — movies, but I can’t help loving them just because Cusack shows up with his trademark self-depreciating charm, unstoppable love of The Clash and his receding hairline.
In “Bullets Over Broadway”, Cusack plays a hyperbolic version of himself — a neurotic everyman falling somewhere between him and Woody Allen, the man he stands in for throughout the film. Cusack is surrounded by a fabulous cast: Jim Broadbent, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz Palminteri and Diane Wiest, in a role that won her an Oscar.
If you are like every single member of my family and hate Woody Allen movies, you probably won’t appreciate this movie as much I did. But you should really give it the chance. This ain’t no “Match Point” (2005). [Note to directors: please do not cast Jonathan Rhys Myers in your movies.] “Bullets Over Broadway” is one of Woody Allen’s best and most-underrated films. Watching it makes you horribly nostalgic for his 1970s prime — even though the film was made in the mid-90s.
Favourite Scene: I couldn’t stop laughing when — in the middle of having sex with his wife — John Cusack’s character jumps out of bed, freaks out about selling his soul for money and shouts out the window, “I’m a whore!”.
Notes: Directed by Woody Allen; Produced by Charles H. Joffe, Jack Rollins; Written by Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath; Starring John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Chazz Palminteri, Mary-Louise Parker, Jack Warden, Joe Viterelli, Rob Reiner, Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent, Harvey Fierstein; Cinematography by Carlo DiPalma; Editing by Susan E. Morse.
Sasha James, otherwise known as The Final Girl Project, is a twenty-something Torontonian with an unhealthy amount of her week reserved for film and television. She also moonlights as The Doctor's companion on Saturdays. 
God, I love John Cusack and it sounds like I went through the exact same obsessive phase you did when I was in middle school. Bullets Over Broadway is one of my favorites, and for the longest time it was actually the only Woody Allen film I’d ever seen, without even realizing it was one of his (for a while when I was young I though Allen acted in all of his movies too).
“I”m a whore!” Classic moment, indeed!
@Alex I think every single woman with eyes and a libido goes through a John Cusack phase.
One of Allen’s best, mostly just because it is so crazy and different from his other films.
@CMrok93 It’s his only film that I can watch repeatedly. I can’t say that of Annie Hall or Manhattan, which is somewhat bizarre.
As much as Woody Allen is considered his best during the 70s, some of my favorites by him are from the 80s and 90s. I really like “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and “The Purple Rose of Cairo”, and even though it’s corny, “Everyone Says I Love You” makes me smile.
that said, I haven’t seen “Bullets Over Broadway” yet. But it takes place in the 1920s and stars John Cusack so win win win.
@Allison. So win. And I loved Crimes and Misdemeanors — maybe even more than Annie Hall.