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Mar 13, 2020ThePrairieProjects rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I'm not a fan of Woody Allen, or of his films, but I've seen a few (mainly to see if I might change my mind). So far... no. But on to "Blue Jasmine". Which I don't consider a comedy, even though it's listed as one. The sets, locations, and costumes look great in this film, but the script and characters aren't so great, as is often the case when someone is both writer and director. The actors do a really great job with what they have to work with, though. Cate Blanchette plays a character (Jasmine) who becomes more and more unstable, is frightening (far more than just runny mascara scary), thoroughly unlikable, and is very damaged, lashing out in really nasty ways at people who generally don't deserve it. Jasmine met and married a so-called great guy, Hal (played by Alec Baldwin), and I think it's telling in one way (as shown in trailers for this film, so not a spoiler) that Hal says to others over dinner that he fell in love with the name, Jasmine. He obviously didn't fall in love with *her*, or he wasn't capable of healthy love. Without giving away anything big, NYC-based Jasmine ends up financially hurting ("broke") and decides to stay with her long-suffering sister, who lives in San Francisco. There's a lot of friction, emotional abuse, unhappiness, and gaslighting, so if those are triggers for you, you might want to give this film a miss. Also, Louis CK is in this film, if you want to give him a miss. An appearance by a very young and talented Alden Ehrenreich (who went on to play Han Solo in "Solo"), and solid character performances by Andrew Dice Clay, Sally Hawkins, and Bobby Cannavale are reasons you might want to watch this film. Also, the whole "do people deserve certain things that happen to them" and degrees of personal accountability thought-hamsters-running-on-a-wheel-at-1-am might contribute to some insomnia. Just saying. The choice is yours.