Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The plot is a homage to early American talkies and involves detectives, robberies, magicians, hypnotism, wise cracks and as always with Allen's films, dames. The latter are exquisitely represented through the fantastic Helen Hunt as Allen/Briggs' nemesis and love interest, and the sumptuous Charlize Theron as the femme fatale and fantasy woman, which Allen often likes to include in his films. Add to this potent mixture the usual highly complimentary music score, and you have a film which is entertaining, beautifully shot.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.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

What the heck. An old school Woody Allen movie. He plays his little schmuck to perfection. The one liners reign supreme. This is a throwback to those B-Detective movies of the early forties. Helen Hunt plays an emotionless efficiency expert who immediately treads on Woody's toes. He is an excellent insurance investigator, saving the company millions, but one day he gets himself hypnotized by David Ogden Stiers who uses his power over our hero to pull off jewel heists. From then on it's totally unbelievable stuff, with a magic word causing the two principle characters to do the will of the evil hypnotist. There is nice chemistry between the two leads and you know that despite their animus, there could be something positive down the road. Dan Aykroyd plays a boorish boss who is after hunt, but has been unwilling to call it off with his wife till now. Just a funny piece of fluff, but quite engaging.

It's 1940. CW Briggs (Woody Allen) is an insurance investigator who cracks a lot of cases. Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt) is his new boss working under the owner Chris Magruder (Dan Aykroyd) who she's having an affair with. She's constantly butting heads with CW while reorganizing the office. They are at a company diner. CW and Betty Ann are hypnotized by magician Voltan to be used later for robberies. Then CW is given a robbery case on Laura Kensington (Charlize Theron) that he himself unknowingly robbed.It has marginally funny lines from Woody. I don't think Helen Hunt and/or her character works that well. Her affair with the boss keeps her from having any romantic chemistry with CW. It's good that they hate each other because it comes across the screen. They are more bitter and not funny together. Their eventual turn is unconvincing. This is a passable effort from Woody especially the period piece aspect. There are funny moments but the central chemistry is lacking.

Woody Allen's produce during the 90's was a mixed bag - films like Deconstructing Harry, Sweet & Lodown, Mighty Aphrodite, Shadows & Fog and Everyone Says I Love You aren't as universally loved as most of his films from the 80's and 70's, but they're all ambitious, unique and considered masterpieces at least by some. With Small Time Crooks and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, however, Allen entered the biggest slump of his career, the only period in which his reputation was seriously at stake, and he wouldn't recover from it until he began his journeys to Europe, starting with 2005's Match Point.The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is, indeed, one of Allen's weakest films; not because it's a strict comedy (he made quite a few of those, many of them - even the latter ones - quite good; I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed Scoop) but simply because it's not good. Allen doesn't feel at home with his role at all, more than ever playing not a character but himself stuck with a gig as an insurance investigator; it's impossible to buy him as the hard-boiled womanizer. Worse is his on-screen chemistry with Helen Hunt - there is none. We as viewers know there's sexual tension between them only because, in films, there always is between co-workers of opposite sexes who hate each other - but none of it shows up in their performances. There's also no chemistry between Hunt and Dan Aykroyd, whose character is a completely flat waste.The film is not all bad, of course, it's Woody Allen and therefore has entertainment value. The script is smart and often funny, and whenever it gets self-conscious and turns into a film-noir parody it works pretty well, but it never goes far enough in that direction. The ending, for example, feels like a complete cop out; were it self aware and self mocking, like the ending to Shadows and Fog, it would have worked, but it just feels like Allen didn't know how to finish his film. All too often it feels like he just didn't know what he was doing, and that means that even the good scenes couldn't be enjoyed completely.