In “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995), writer-director-star Woody Allen sets up his usual framework. A couple is mostly happily married, but cracks are forming. Allen plays a weak-spined schmo in a secure upper-middle-class job, and a quirky scenario encroaches. Cue explorations of love and life, with pratfalls and self-deprecating one-liners peppered about.
But Allen has to do something a little different a quarter-century into his career. A few things qualify as “different” in “Mighty Aphrodite,” but without a doubt the weirdest and most magnetic is Mira Sorvino as the titular Linda Ash. She’s a simpleminded, good-hearted, monotone-voiced prostitute and porno actress.
Good genes … somehow
Allen’s Lenny wants to get to know Linda because (unbeknownst to her), he is the adoptive father of her unaccountably brilliant child, Max. Lenny is morbidly fascinated that a smart kid has come from this dim woman.
“Mighty Aphrodite” (1995)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Mira Sorvino, Woody Allen, Helena Bonham Carter
Sorvino’s performance is driven by the monotone vocal choice and enhanced by Linda’s apartment décor, which indicates she is not ashamed of being a sex worker. Not because she’s making a sociopolitical statement, but because it never occurs to her to be ashamed.
People who successfully live in society despite being so obviously out of the mainstream are fascinating. It also can’t be denied that Linda is naturally sexy despite her mental handicap. “Arrested Development” Season 3 would later do a more extreme version of this idea with Charlize Theron as a clinically diagnosed mentally challenged woman who is so attractive that Jason Bateman’s character assumes she is British and quirky.
While “Aphrodite” reaches another level when Sorvino joins the narrative, she isn’t asked to carry the whole movie (although she did carry its whole Oscar haul, winning Best Supporting Actress). Michael Rapaport steps in as Linda’s male equivalent, Kevin, a mediocre boxer who would prefer to work on an onion farm.
Peter Weller’s role is small and one-note as Jerry Bender, who aims to steal Helena Bonham Carter’s art-gallery owner Amanda away from Lenny. But he delivers the film’s most LOL moment. Lenny and Amanda had been discussing how Bender always stares dead-eyed at Amanda, undressing her with his eyes. When we finally meet Bender, Weller hilariously nails that facial expression.
Cue the chorus
That’s a grade-A set-up and visual punchline. Other laughs come from more obvious routes, like when Lenny has to find documents on Linda at the adoption agency before the secretary returns from the bathroom. Papers fly all over as Allen does old-school pratfalls.
Another of “Aphrodite’s” “different” elements is the Greek theater chorus, led by stentorian-voiced F. Murray Abraham. They open the movie amid ancient ruins, and comment now and then. I was worried by this Mel Brooksian approach that shows the timelessness of Lenny’s questionable decision making. I shouldn’t have fretted: The chorus lightens the proceedings without overpowering them, and closes with a cleanly choreographed dance number of “When You’re Smiling.”
The portrayal of Lenny’s job as a sportswriter falls short of believable. The job does allow us to see him at the boxing gym, the racetrack and even Giants football practice, thus spicing up the backgrounds. But it’s never plausible that a successful NYC sportswriter has this much free time for not only a family, but also to obsess over Linda’s life.
Indeed, the sort-of love quadrangle of Lenny, Amanda, Bender and Linda barely registers, so much does Linda’s storyline dominate our interest. “Mighty Aphrodite” is unbalanced compared to Allen’s very elite comedies. But it’ll leave you smiling – and many other Allen fans will be smiling with you.