CW Briggs is a veteran insurance investigator, with many successes. Betty Ann Fitzgerald is a new employee in the company he works for, with the task of reorganizing the office. They don't like each other - or at least that's what they think. During a night out with the rest of the office employees, they go to watch Voltan, a magician who secretly hypnotizes both of them.
[Allen's] let his guard down and has allowed himself and his audience to relax -- something that doesn't often happen when the specters of class and European art hover over his pictures.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
31 Aug 2001
rotten:
It's evidently important to Allen to work, work, work, but he's starting to make his movies by rote instead of passion.
– David Edelstein,
Slate,
31 Aug 2001
fresh:
Mid-level, pretty-but-not- hugely-funny Allen film.
– Stephen Hunter,
Washington Post,
6 Jan 2002
rotten:
The romance between C.W. and Betty Ann doesn't have much ardor, repressed or otherwise.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
22 Jan 2002
rotten:
The movie has an odd feeling, both lush and listless. It's enough to make us believe Allen's comic batteries need recharging.