Alice Movie Review - Starring Mia Farrow and Joe Mantegna

By David Terr

"Alice" is a very thought-provoking fantasy film directed by Woody Allen and starring Mia Farrow. The story is very entertaining and the acting is quite good, particuarly Mia's role. "Alice" is much like many of Woody's later, more serious films, though it still contains a great deal of humor.

The movie concerns a rich but unhappy housewife named Alice (Farrow), who lives in Manhattan. She decides to see a Chinese herbalist for back pains, but he tells her the problem is in her head. He prescibes several unusual herbs for her with magical properties. The first one makes her act seductively to an attactive young man named Joe, whom she has a crush on. Shortly thereafter, the two begin having an affair. The second herb makes her invisible at critical moments, so she can spy on people she's curious about. Other herbs have other strange effects, including one she burns, which causes the ghost of a former lover of hers to appear, and one which will make any man who takes it fall in love with her.

From her experiments with the herbs, Alice comes to learn much better who she is and what she wants out of life. Although she has the chance to use the love potion to either make Joe or her husband fall in love with her again, she decides not to use it. Instead, she travels to India, where she meets Mother Theresa.

I have heard some people criticize Alice for being racist in the way it depicts Chinese, though I disagree. The complaint I've heard is in regard to a scene in which Alice finds the herbalist in an opium alley.

Alice - Dave's Top Movies

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