The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

This is the story about so-called wizards or warlocks if I can call them like that. Arrogant and cheep thieves full of self-steam, who thinks that they can cloud other men's mind. I don't like Woody Allen, But Hellen Hunt is simply the best. She always knows how to refresh movie by her appearance and be one of a kind. When I'd seen "What women want", I definitely told to my self that for Hellen Hunt, sky was the limit. This is the message for all who believes that the power of manipulating people can makes someone rich. The other side of that coin is always tails. The ability of deception, which mark makes the hunter.

The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: CW Briggs is a very successful insurance investigator who has a long track record of recovering stolen goods. He also has betting problems, but his biggest problem is Betty Ann Fitzgerald, the new efficiency expert. She wants to undermine his way of doing things, and would probably like him to leave the company. By an odd circumstance, Briggs and Fitzgerald get dragooned into being subjects of hypnosis. The hypnotist, Voltan, plants a keyword on each of them so that he can induce the trance state later.Delineation of conflicts: The old guard represented by CW versus the new business processes of 1940 represented by Fitzgerald. Magruder, who runs the company, wants to be with Fitzgerald, but is wishy-washy about leaving his wife. Voltan intends to use Briggs and Fitzgerald to leverage their interior knowledge of rich families' homes to complete major robberies on the sly. Fitzgerald hires two private detectives to 'help' CW.Resolution: Voltan is rather successful at first. The private detectives and the police catch up with his efforts, but do they catch the right suspect?

What the heck. An old school Woody Allen movie. He plays his little schmuck to perfection. The one liners reign supreme. This is a throwback to those B-Detective movies of the early forties. Helen Hunt plays an emotionless efficiency expert who immediately treads on Woody's toes. He is an excellent insurance investigator, saving the company millions, but one day he gets himself hypnotized by David Ogden Stiers who uses his power over our hero to pull off jewel heists. From then on it's totally unbelievable stuff, with a magic word causing the two principle characters to do the will of the evil hypnotist. There is nice chemistry between the two leads and you know that despite their animus, there could be something positive down the road. Dan Aykroyd plays a boorish boss who is after hunt, but has been unwilling to call it off with his wife till now. Just a funny piece of fluff, but quite engaging.

It's New York in the 1940's.CW Briggs is an insurance investigator who's constantly fighting with efficiency expert Betty Ann Fitzgerald.She has an affair with his boss Chris Magruder, only his wife is on the way of their happiness.Then those two, CW and Betty Ann are hypnotized by a magician called Voltan.When he hears the word Constantinople, he falls into deepest trance.The word Madagascar does the same for her.These words make them do things they wouldn't normally do, like commit a robbery.And also like each other.Could they be meant for each other? The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) is a Woody Allen film, where he also plays the lead.He has gotten a terrific female lead from Helen Hunt as Betty Ann.Dan Aykroyd gives a great performance as Magruder.Elizabeth Berkley is fantastic as Jill.Charlize Theron has the looks and the talent, in this one she plays Laura Kensington.Allen's regulars Wallace Shawn and David Ogden Stiers play George Bond and Voltan.I just saw the movie on a DVD, having seen it once before.This is a rather interesting Woody Allen picture.It may not be the funniest, a few chuckles here and there, but it's fascinating.It's quite enjoyable to watch Allen every time he hears Constantinople.The movie tries to capture the spirit of the old screwball comedies, kind of what Tracy and Hepburn did, but gets only halfway.But it's a very good effort.