He’s Not Funny

“It’s as if he’s trying to spread his personal chronic sickness of Anhedonia,” is Mary Rose Somarriba’s judgment of Woody Allen’s latest movies. Writing in The Grim Reaper of Comedy , today’s “On the Square” article, she argues that his movies present a philosophy, and the philosophy kills the comedy.

Updated: I should have mentioned Mary Rose’s earlier analyses of popular culture: Artificially Conceiving a Bad Romantic Comedy , A Girl’s Life in the Cyberbubble , and Middle Men: Not Starring Steve Jobs .

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Of Roots and Adventures

Peter J. Leithart

I have lived in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia (twice), Pennsylvania, Alabama (also twice), England, and Idaho. I left…

Our Most Popular Articles of 2025

The Editors

It’s been a big year for First Things. Our website was completely redesigned, and stories like the…

Our Year in Film & Television—2025

Various

First Things editors and writers share the most memorable films and TV shows they watched this year.…