It had more jokes, was funnier than his later, less funny movies. I saw it years ago when it first came out on video and was disappointed by it. I watched it again on Tubi and thought it was pretty good.
Woody Allen plays a once well-regarded director reduced to making TV commercials because he was difficult to work with. His ex-wife who left him for a studio head convinces her husband to give Allen a chance to direct a $60 million movie. It may be his last chance to save his career. Just before they begin filming, he's stricken with hysterical blindness but decides to go forward anyway with the help of his agent and the interpreter for the Chinese cinematographer.
He has to conceal his blindness. A critic complained that he talks to people without looking at them, unable to tell where they're sitting even though they're just a few feet away, but he did mention early in the film that he had hearing loss in one ear which would affect his ability to tell where voices were coming from.
When I first saw it, I thought he overdid it with the long takes, but now I don't know why that bothered me. He was in an earlier stage of life when he made this, a spry 66, but how closely does he supervise his cinematographers? He doesn't direct actors. He said he directed his first movie, Take the Money and Run, without ever looking through a camera. How much of a problem would hysterical blindness be for him?
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