San Francisco. Movie geek Allan is shocked when his wife Nancy files for divorce and leaves him. Allan's friends, couple Dick and Linda, try to save him from depression by arranging several dates for him, but none of the women like him. Allan is also a huge fan of "Casablanca" and has Humphrey Bogart as an imaginary friend who gives him love advice. When Dick leaves the city, Allan cannot resist but to fall for Linda, and the two land in bed. When Dick returns and suspects Linda had an affair, Allan goes to meet her at the airport and re-creates the ending in "Casablanca", telling Linda to board the plane with Dick.
Cinema heroes as a form of self-help for people: this early Woody Allen film—untypically directed by someone else, Herbert Ross, not by Allen himself; and set in San Francisco, not in Allen's "bastion" New York—is a funny little comedy with a prototype of the author's future (more dramatic) films, encompassing already some of his frequent themes, from an isolated intellectual, neurotic behaviors in urban life and the difficulty of ugly people trying to date and find a love life. Similarly like "Jojo Rabbit", "Play It Again, Sam" also has the idea of a protagonist talking with an imaginary authority figure for advice, here a more positive one, the one of Humphrey Bogart from "Casablanca", while Allan also has an imaginary vision of his ex-wife Nancy nagging him occasionally. This culminates in one howlingly funny moment that is comedy gold: Bogart is sitting next to Allan, and giving him advice on how to seduce Linda on the couch, more and more, with compliments ("You're uncommonly beautiful."), but just as Allan is about to kiss Linda, his imaginary version of his ex-wife shows up, holding a gun, and says: "I warned you to stay away from my ex-husband!", and shoots Bogart! Ross is better at mise-en-scene than Allen is when directing, relying more on moving camera, since Allen is more of a writer than a director, yet the latter's wacky dialogues are sometimes bound to cause at least a chuckle: in one of them, after having a date in an "undergournd" bar, two punks start following Allan and his date, and one thug even grabs Allan by the neck, causing a protest ("Your tattoo's coming off on my neck."). While not quite thought out to the fullest, especially in the rather incomplete ending, this film still has a lot going for it, if it is the viewers' cup of tea.
Grade:+++
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