Very disappointing...

That was an excellent one.

Brilliant and touching

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie could have been made into something good, but it never rose to the occasion. I love seeing Woody Allen playing someone other than the neurotic New Yorker. Here he is in the exact opposite role - an southeastern New Mexican. I get tired of seeing Woody Allen always being Woody Allen. So, this role should have been refreshing. Surrounding himself by a competent cast of actors and comedians, you would have expected something good.The problem with this movie is that it took a good idea and never really went anywhere with it. Tex is a mild mannered butcher, who finally murders his wife after all his affairs. While disposing of her, he accidentally leaves her finger lying on the highway. In the mostly Hispanic town that he lives in, the people start having miracles happen. So, they decide that the finger is the result of these miracles. Fran Drescher is very funny as a nun who is always crying "sin" over everything. However, that's it. You would expect something out of this movie, but you never find it. A big disappointment.

Two questions occurred to me on watching this movie: 1) whoever thought the plot was funny when it was pitched in the first place? and 2) why did a class act like Woody Allen ever get caught up in this nonsense? This movie is pretentious in that it thinks it is clever by satirising religion but all it does is satirise Roman Catholicism which is an easy target anyway (and doesn't even do that in a particularly innovative way). For example some of the miracles attributed to the townsfolk are as ridiculous as i'm sure was intended by the movie, but they are not satirical they are just crass and stupid. Also the idea that a joke can be made of somebody being hacked to pieces is just sick. Avoid this movie; it's pretentious rubbish.

I am not a Woody Allen fan. I consider it significant that he has only one Oscar nomination for acting and that was 30 years ago. All of his other many nominations and wins were for writing and directing. If you like Sacha Baron Cohen, then you will like Woody Allen and vice versa. Maybe they should do something together - with nude wrestling, of course.This is not an Allen project. He only acts here. The director is Alfonso Arau (Like Water for Chocolate), and the writer is Bill Wilson in his only project (maybe this is a ghost name). So, if you like Allen's acting, then you may find it interesting.There are a lot of interesting characters in the movie: Sharon Stone as Tex's (Allen) adulterous wife, whom he dismembers, and whose hand becomes a religious icon; Sicilian beauty Maria Grazia Cucinotta as the town whore and the local priest's (David Schwimmer) babe; Elliott Gould, Andy Dick and Fran Drescher as church authorities; Cheech Marin as the Mayor; Kiefer Sutherland as a dumb Texas cop that gets a real ride in the end; and many many more.You get to see such miracles a a 3-foot schlong, la tortilla get humongous chi chis, the blind see, the lame grow new legs, and everybody just acting as crazy as they can.If you enjoy rubbernecking at traffic accidents, you will enjoy this.

"Picking Up the Pieces" is one of those nonsense stories that gets morphed into something really neat. In this case, Sheriff Tex Cowley (Woody Allen) tries to bury the body of his wife, but accidentally leaves her hand above the ground. I should identify that her hand has the middle finger sticking out. When a blind woman stumbles upon the hand, she regains her vision, and then the hand starts performing all sorts of miracles.Yes, it's a totally outlandish idea, but they do some really funny stuff with it. I especially liked the scene with "Ortiz". One might say that this movie looks at the interconnectedness of everything. Maybe. But overall, I'd say that it's an excuse to have fun. And it sure is something to see Woody Allen in a small Texas town. Also starring Sharon Stone, Cheech Marin, David Schwimmer, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, and Kiefer Sutherland.