woosterek100

Perhaps casting 60-year-old Kim Basinger in a film about a woman trying to have a baby was not a great idea. Although the film was well done, that one huge implausible detail overshadows everything else.

I love Elaine May. I could listen to her read a grocery list and die laughing. I love Woody Allen. His movies are wonderful. After three episodes I had to stop watching this. The characters all seem uncomfortable with their characters and with each other. May and Allen seem somewhat unsteady and frailer than usual. Miley Cyrus is not a particularly nuanced actress and struggles with Woody Allen's dialogue. I wanted to love this - it has all the right elements, but it just doesn't seem to click. On the plus side, all of the turmoil and angst of the Sixties is beautifully rendered. The young people are ready for change, and the older generation is bewildered and unsure of how to deal with it. This series is not terrible by any means, but it just didn't work for me.

Whoever controlled the rights to Agatha Christie's work and permitted this awful movie to be produced should be flogged. Updating a Christie classic and setting it in the present could have worked really well. However, instead of sharp plotting and good dialogue, the writers chose to do this by endlessly beating us over the head with pop culture references such as the Popiel Pocket Fisherman and Elton John. Alfred Molina is a decent Poirot except for his constant musing over his problems with his hot girlfriend. And lest we momentarily forget that this is a SUPER MODERN take on the story, the clues have been updated as well: notes are replaced with VHS tapes and diaries with Palm Pilots. All of these innovations don't actually do anything to advance the plot in any way. The cast is largely unknown save for a few recognizable faces such as Meredith Baxter who hysterically chews through the scenery, and Leslie Caron who just looks embarrassed to be there. Stick with the Oscar winning 1974 version, or better yet, read the book.