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Don't Drink The Water

1994, Movie, PG, 92 mins

Don't Drink The Water: Review

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This busy TV adaptation of the hit Broadway show rests on the bony shoulders of writer, director and star Woody Allen: Peppered with hilarious one-liners and briskly paced, it's manna from the heavens for Allen fans. The time is the early 1960s, and Alex Magee (Michael J. Fox) gets one last chance to redeem himself in the family business — diplomacy — when his father, Ambassador Magee, (Josef Sommer) is recalled to Washington DC from some unnamed iron-curtain country. Alex, the embassy's second-in-command, is renowned for his faux-pas and unprepared for the invasion of the Hollander Family. Caterer Walter Hollander (Allen), his wife, Marion (Julie Kavner), and their daughter, Susan (Mayam Bialik), have been accused of spying, so Alex must give them asylum while kowtowing to a visiting Middle Eastern sultan and his staff. But the bumbling Alex is the least likely candidate to successfully sneak the Hollanders to safety without causing an international incident. Though the 1969 film version was a disaster of legendary proportions, Allen's original play, with its firm grounding in Cold War-era anxieties, was a huge hit on Broadway. Its stereotypes have dated badly, but Allen's ugly American routine still has moments and Kavner is a brilliant foil; while Allen relies on tried-and-true stand-up delivery rather than developing Walter Hollander into a fully fleshed character, Kavner's performance as the beloved thorn in his side is both emotionally generous and funny. The top-flight supporting players are another plus, and overall the laugh quotient is high enough to make this fluff worth a peek. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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