Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 38

PAGE 38 Our movie Excellent rating guide Good Wait for the video Bad I 1,1 I I4 Murphy, Bassettand Kadeem Hardison in "Vampire in Brooklyn" Murphy can't stake comeback on this beast Back to 'Bananas' After a brief exile, Allen returns to his roots by Gary Thompson woman. Knowing Allen as we now do (onscreen and off), it's only a matter of time before one emotion Daily News Movie Critic o'erthrows the other. Like the song says, it's hard to be humble. Furthermore, we should not be surprised that Or humbled. Allen validates the relationship by showing us that O.J.

Simpson's solemn search for the Real Killer Lenny's motives are more paternal than sexual dissolved quickly into a Florida vacation that in- Lenny tries to legitimize and protect the call girl by eluded a Playboy bunny and unlimited golf. (Where fixing her up with a big, dumb fighter (Michael do you sign up for these packages? And Woody Allen, Rapaport directorstar of the freewheeling comedy "Mighty Meanwhile, Lenny's selfless(?) quest to improve Aphrodite," has ended the brief exile brought on by the life of his child's natural mother has a cost. His his ugly custody battle with Mia Farrow. neglected wife is spending more and more time The scandal dampened box of- with the handsome benefactor fice enthusiasm for "Husbands I (Peter Weller) financing her new and Wives" and "Manhattan Mur- Miehtv Aohodite SoHo gallery. der Mystery." so Allen judiciously 6 Allen doesn't linger on Lenny's did not cast himself in last year's Produced by Robert Greenhut, written marriaee there is none of the SiSSSVSSffi" SSS'lSmorJSJS? ring to keep a low profile Runnmg Time.

mjnutes "Husbands and Wives." Instead, aow Alien is DacK witn a ven- Lennyweinrib Woody Allen "Mighty Aphrodite" is a throw- geance in a movie that opens with Amanda Helena Bonham Carter back to the wild, free-association his character joking about his Unda MiraSorvino comedies Allen made 20 years ago. wifes powerful maternal drive Chorusleader F. Murray Abraham 0 and the folly of adoption (he in- Kevin Rapaport sists on "m-ide of Lai us David Ogden Stiers vino loud, lusty take on the clas- The gloves appamly areoff T'resias Jack Warden sic dumb blonde role, and for nSlaiUteii Jerry Bender Peter Weller Allen's ish-out-of-water shtick as An apt analogy nere, since Alien pnts Guide: obscene language an TjDDer Fast Sider forced tnmin-plays a New York boxing writer, showing at- Area theaters an uppertastsiaeriorcea tomin Lenny Weinrib, whose marriage gle with people who don't like jazz. to his gallery-operator wife (Hele- "Mighty Aphrodite" reintro- na Bonham Carter) is on the ropes. duces us t0 Allen as unabashed She wants kids, he doesn't.

They compromise on comedian. His loony devices here include an actual adoption, and the couple seems happy for a time. Greek chorus with masks, robes, sandals, the whole bit Lenny, however, becomes obsessed with his boy's providing hilarious commentary on our hero's star-genetic heritage, and against the advice of the crossed search for his son's parents. The chorus (led adoption agency begins to research the child's back- by F.Murray Abraham) quickly abandons classical for-ground. mality and takes on a voice that sounds more Jewish The search does not lead him, as he'd hoped, to than Greek.

MENSA meetings. Lenny follows the trail through "Weinrib," they warn Allen's character, "don't be the New York porn industry and finally to a daffy a putz!" It may be too late for that, but "Mighty hooker (thestatuesqueMiraSorvino). Aphrodite" proves Allen can still make a comedy Lenny is both repulsed and aroused by the young when he wants to. fey Gary Thompson Daily News Movie Critic In "A Vampire in Brooklyn," Eddie Murphy is not exactly dead and not exactly alive, kind of like his career. These days, Murphy is somewhere in between, doomed to walk the earth for a certain time until he can find a script that can awaken the dormant attributes that made Murphy one of the biggest stars of the 1980s.

"A Vampire in Brooklyn" isn't that script. It's another misbegotten role that gives him virtually no chance of being funny, explosive and irreverent in short, no chance of being Eddie Murphy. The dumb plan this time was to cloak the star in a campy vampire get-up. Here, with his yellow eyes, fangs, long curly hair and goatee, he looks like something off an Ashford Simpson Halloween album. And if the get-up isn't distracting enough, there's a Caribbean accent to go along with it all part of Murphy's thinly drawn "character," Maximillian.

1 A Vampire in Brooklyn Produced by Eddie Murphy, Ray Murphy and Mark Lipsky, directed by Wes Craven, music by J. Peter Robinson, written by Charles Murphy, distributed by Paramount Pictures. Running Time: 110 minutes Maximillian Eddie Murphy Rita Angela Bassett Justice Allen Payne Julius Kadeem Hardison Silas John Witherspoon Zeko Zakes Mokae Dewey Joanna Cassidy Nikki Simbi Khali Parents Guide: gore Showing at: Area theaters Max is a vampire from the Bermuda triangle who arrives in New York searching for the last of his kind an attractive police officer (Angela Bassett) unaware that she is half-vampire herself. Maximillian means to take her for a mate. Standing in his way is the woman's partner, Allen Payne, who has romantic notions of his own.

See MURPHY Page 50 Copycat 12 Produced by Arnon Milchan and Mark Tarlov, directed by Jon Amiel, music by Christopher Young, written by Ann Bi-derman and David Madsen, distributed by Warner Bros. Running Time: 131 minutes Helen Hudson Sigoumey Weaver MJ. Monahan Holly Hunter Ruben Goetz Dermot Mulroney Peter Foley William McNamara Nicoletti Will Patton Andy John Rothman Daryll LeeCullum Harry Connick Jr. Quinn J.E. Freeman Parents Guide: violence.

Showing at: Area theaters The real copycats are these movie makers by Gary Thompson V. Daily News Movie Critic A homicide expert in "Copycat" states there are probably 35 serial killers currently operating in the United States. Seems low, doesn't it? Especially if you see a lot of movies. In the demographic profile of America supplied by Hollywood, almost everyone is a serial killer (certainly everyone played by Kevin Spacey). And the odds of a guy being an ax-murderer go way up if he's See 'COPYCAT' Page 57 Allen and screen wife Helena Bonham Carter walk through a scene of "Mighty Aphrodite".