The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Encyclopedia
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is a 2001 American film written, directed by, and starring Woody Allen
. The cast also features Dan Aykroyd
, Elizabeth Berkley
, Helen Hunt
, John Schuck
, Wallace Shawn
, David Ogden Stiers
, and Charlize Theron
. The plot concerns an insurance investigator and an efficiency expert who are both hypnotized by a crooked hypnotist into stealing jewels. The movie bears much more in common with Allen's earlier screwball comedy film
s than with other films made by him around the same time.
) is an insurance investigator who is highly successful, owing to his many connections and ability to think like a criminal. His work does not impress Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt
), an efficiency expert who butts heads with Briggs over his old-fashioned views. Her advice is usually followed however, because she secretly is in a relationship with her boss, Chris Magruder (Dan Aykroyd
), who constantly reassures her that they will be free to pursue their relationship in public once he finalizes his divorce with his wife.
While attending a dinner with some employees, Fitzgerald and Briggs are called on by a stage magician (David Ogden Stiers
) to be in his hypnotism act. Using the words "Madagascar" and "Constantinople" on them respectively as trigger words to put then in a trance, the two are given the suggestion that they are newlyweds who are madly in love before being reawakened. When Briggs returns home for the evening, he receives a call from the magician, who uses Brigg's trigger word to put him back in a trance and orders him to steal jewels for him. Briggs has no recollections of these crimes after he is woken up and is determined to prove himself by solving the crimes. He begins to investigate Fitzgerald on the grounds of her suspicious behavior (actually related to her affair with Magruder) and sneaks into her house one evening. There, he witnesses Magruder tell her that he has reconciled with his wife and will not have a divorce. When he leaves, Fitzgerald becomes drunk in a fit of depression and tries to jump out of a window. Briggs stops her and spends the night keeping her from other self destructive activity.
Eventually, investigations begin to pick up evidence that points to Briggs, leading to his arrest. He manages to escape to Fitzgerald's place, where she grudgingly hides him. Thinking that Briggs is no longer available, the magician begins to call Fitzgerald, using her trigger word of "Madagascar" to put her in a hypnotic state and resume stealing for him. It also becomes apparent that the subliminal suggestion of being in love has remained, as Fitzgerald and Briggs continue to act the part of newlyweds with each other while hypnotized. This leads several of Brigg's co-workers to recall the initial hypnotism and realize that it is the cause of the robberies. They free Briggs of the trigger word and upon remembering everything, he rushes to the site where the still hypnotized Fitzgerald is delivering the jewels to the magician. Briggs is discovered and held at gunpoint, however he deduces that a small-time criminal like the magician wouldn't have the nerve to do something as drastic as murder. The magician attempts to run but is caught by the police shortly after.
Back at work, Briggs attempts to convince Fitzgerald that he loves her and she is better off with him than Magruder (who insists once more that his relationship with his wife has begun to deteriorate and they will be divorcing). She remains unwilling to break up with her boss, leading Briggs to ask, "Where are you going? Madagascar?" and puts her in a hypnotic and loving state.
After they have left, their colleague George (Wallace Shawn
) remarks that he already deprogrammed her.
reported that the film received 45 percent positive reviews, based on 122 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.
Allen himself seems to be in relative agreement with some critics, remarking that it is perhaps his worst movie. Allen has said he felt he let down the rest of the cast by casting himself as the lead. He explained that part of the problem was the period setting and the set building expense which made it too expensive to go back and reshoot anything. Allen famously re-shot the entirety of his 1987 drama September after he felt he got the casting wrong.
With its production budget of $26 million, it is Allen's most expensive film. In relation to most of his most successful productions, the film fared poorly in American theaters with ticket sales of less than seven million dollars. Its worldwide gross was $18.9 million. However, in the ten years since its release, it is beginning to enjoy a new generation of cult status comedic recognition. Roger Ebert wrote, "There are pleasures in the film that have little to do with the story. Its look and feel is uncanny; it's a tribute to a black-and-white era, filmed in color, and yet the colors seem burnished and aged. No noir films were shot in color in the 1940s, but if one had been, it would have looked like this. And great attention is given to the women played by Hunt, Berkley and Theron; they look not so much like the women in classic film noir as like the women on film noir posters - their costumes and styles elevate them into archetypes. Hunt in particular has fun with a wisecracking dame role that owes something, perhaps, to Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday."
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
. The cast also features Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
, Elizabeth Berkley
Elizabeth Berkley
Elizabeth Berkley is an American television, film, and theatre actress. Berkley's most notable roles were in the television series Saved by the Bell, as brainy feminist Jessie Spano, and the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls, as exotic dancer Nomi Malone.-Early life:Berkley was born and raised...
, Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
, John Schuck
John Schuck
Conrad John Schuck Jr. is an American actor, primarily in stage, movies and television. He is best-known for his roles as police commissioner Rock Hudson's mildly slow-witted assistant, Sgt. Charles Enright in the 1970s crime drama McMillan & Wife, and as Lee Meriwether's husband, Herman Munster...
, Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
, David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
, and Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules...
. The plot concerns an insurance investigator and an efficiency expert who are both hypnotized by a crooked hypnotist into stealing jewels. The movie bears much more in common with Allen's earlier screwball comedy film
Screwball comedy film
The screwball comedy is a principally American genre of comedy film that became popular during the Great Depression, originating in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s. It is characterized by fast-paced repartee, farcical situations, escapist themes, and plot lines involving...
s than with other films made by him around the same time.
Plot
CW Briggs (Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
) is an insurance investigator who is highly successful, owing to his many connections and ability to think like a criminal. His work does not impress Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
), an efficiency expert who butts heads with Briggs over his old-fashioned views. Her advice is usually followed however, because she secretly is in a relationship with her boss, Chris Magruder (Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
), who constantly reassures her that they will be free to pursue their relationship in public once he finalizes his divorce with his wife.
While attending a dinner with some employees, Fitzgerald and Briggs are called on by a stage magician (David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
) to be in his hypnotism act. Using the words "Madagascar" and "Constantinople" on them respectively as trigger words to put then in a trance, the two are given the suggestion that they are newlyweds who are madly in love before being reawakened. When Briggs returns home for the evening, he receives a call from the magician, who uses Brigg's trigger word to put him back in a trance and orders him to steal jewels for him. Briggs has no recollections of these crimes after he is woken up and is determined to prove himself by solving the crimes. He begins to investigate Fitzgerald on the grounds of her suspicious behavior (actually related to her affair with Magruder) and sneaks into her house one evening. There, he witnesses Magruder tell her that he has reconciled with his wife and will not have a divorce. When he leaves, Fitzgerald becomes drunk in a fit of depression and tries to jump out of a window. Briggs stops her and spends the night keeping her from other self destructive activity.
Eventually, investigations begin to pick up evidence that points to Briggs, leading to his arrest. He manages to escape to Fitzgerald's place, where she grudgingly hides him. Thinking that Briggs is no longer available, the magician begins to call Fitzgerald, using her trigger word of "Madagascar" to put her in a hypnotic state and resume stealing for him. It also becomes apparent that the subliminal suggestion of being in love has remained, as Fitzgerald and Briggs continue to act the part of newlyweds with each other while hypnotized. This leads several of Brigg's co-workers to recall the initial hypnotism and realize that it is the cause of the robberies. They free Briggs of the trigger word and upon remembering everything, he rushes to the site where the still hypnotized Fitzgerald is delivering the jewels to the magician. Briggs is discovered and held at gunpoint, however he deduces that a small-time criminal like the magician wouldn't have the nerve to do something as drastic as murder. The magician attempts to run but is caught by the police shortly after.
Back at work, Briggs attempts to convince Fitzgerald that he loves her and she is better off with him than Magruder (who insists once more that his relationship with his wife has begun to deteriorate and they will be divorcing). She remains unwilling to break up with her boss, leading Briggs to ask, "Where are you going? Madagascar?" and puts her in a hypnotic and loving state.
After they have left, their colleague George (Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
) remarks that he already deprogrammed her.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that the film received 45 percent positive reviews, based on 122 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 52 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.
Allen himself seems to be in relative agreement with some critics, remarking that it is perhaps his worst movie. Allen has said he felt he let down the rest of the cast by casting himself as the lead. He explained that part of the problem was the period setting and the set building expense which made it too expensive to go back and reshoot anything. Allen famously re-shot the entirety of his 1987 drama September after he felt he got the casting wrong.
With its production budget of $26 million, it is Allen's most expensive film. In relation to most of his most successful productions, the film fared poorly in American theaters with ticket sales of less than seven million dollars. Its worldwide gross was $18.9 million. However, in the ten years since its release, it is beginning to enjoy a new generation of cult status comedic recognition. Roger Ebert wrote, "There are pleasures in the film that have little to do with the story. Its look and feel is uncanny; it's a tribute to a black-and-white era, filmed in color, and yet the colors seem burnished and aged. No noir films were shot in color in the 1940s, but if one had been, it would have looked like this. And great attention is given to the women played by Hunt, Berkley and Theron; they look not so much like the women in classic film noir as like the women on film noir posters - their costumes and styles elevate them into archetypes. Hunt in particular has fun with a wisecracking dame role that owes something, perhaps, to Rosalind Russell in "His Girl Friday."