Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen, Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Rapaport, F. Murray Abraham, Peter Weller, Danielle Ferland, Jack Warden, Dan Moran, Claire Bloom. [R]

Amusing if exceedingly slight trifle from Woody sees his garden-variety nervous, neurotic New Yorker adopting a child with wife Carter, and when the little tyke shows signs of being gifted, he seeks out the birth mother. She turns out to be the last thing he would have expected—a ditzy blonde call girl and occasional adult film actress (Sorvino). Upbeat by the writer/director/star’s standards, with the only significant twist to the repertoire being the commentary cutaways to an Ancient Greek chorus of mythological/literary figures; they’re insubstantial to the sketchy plot, but the plot itself is insubstantial, little more than an excuse for a series of one-liners and glib character work. The sub-plot where Carter considers straying with a colleague (Weller) offers little more than a convenient device to shuffle the dynamic of the regulars. Sorvino won an Academy Award. Olympia Dukakis and David Ogden Stiers cameo; Paul Giamatti has a minor part.

61/100