Bullets Over Broadway

From the outset, I really did not want to enjoy Bullets Over Broadway.  First, it has John Cusack.  I have never been, and probably never will be, a John Cusack fan.  I have enjoyed some movies he's been in, e.g., Sixteen Candles, but my enjoyment was only incidental to his appearance.  I dislike Cusack's biggest movies, Better Off Dead (weird animation scenes didn't do it for me), Say Anything (just didn't resonate), and High Fidelity (slightly okay but retreads a lot of worn out Cusack themes).  One Crazy Summer and The Sure Thing are moderately okay... but just that.  Lastly, his renowned Cub fandom wins him no favors from me.

So, I expected the worst when you combine John Cusack with early 90's Woody Allen set in the 20s.  Indeed, the first third or so of the movie lived up to my worst expectations.  Scenes were forced, the period setting rung false, and Cusack was intolerable.  However, the plot takes pleasant if entirely foreseeable turn, Allen's writing and direction picks up the pace, and the overarching theme becomes clear.

So, if I had to make a hierarchy of films I've seen with John Cusack in them, it would probably go something like this:

1) Sixteen Candles

2) Bullets Over Broadway

3) Eight Men Out

4) High Fidelity 

5) The Sure Thing

6) One Crazy Summer

7) Say Anything 

8) Better Off Dead

Let me exempt Being John Malkovich, a movie that I saw and remember enjoying but cannot remember well enough to really classify.

In the final analysis, I guess, to me, Cusack is the inverse Winona Ryder.  I really shouldn't like Winona Ryder or most of her movies, but I do.  I should like John Cusack, but I don't.  However, that's an entirely different article.