Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the great god of gambling comics, has repeatedly reiterated in his different works that people will definitely follow their most essential habits and principles to do things in the most critical situations, because they have always done this, and they will think that only doing so is safe.
Beginning in 2000, Woody signed a 4-film (must be comedy) collaboration with the film distribution company DreamWorks. The first three are "Amateur Thief", "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" and "Hollywood Ending". Staggeringly, the first three movies cost DreamWorks a lot, and they set the record for the least-grossing Woody movie in a series. So Woody made this "Wonderful Trick", which has too many similarities with Woody's previous successful film "Annie Hall". For Woody, copying his most successful experience to make a movie, in his subconscious mind, should be the safest approach. It can be seen how much Woody yearns for box office and word-of-mouth success in this low period of his career. In his last movie "Hollywood Ending", he has already ridiculed his idea of being unattended and eager to return to the peak of his career.
"Come Out" is pretty much the 2003 version of "Annie Hall":
"Breakthrough" follows "Annie Hall" with a joke as its opening scene.
Jerry, the hero, often breaks the fourth wall and teases the audience about the plot, just like the hero Evel of "Annie Hall".
Both films have flashbacks in the middle of the film, recalling the scene when the heroine first met. (The same way to disrupt the timeline)
There are funny jokes about the heroine's mother and daughter smoking cocaine in "All the Best", and "Annie Hall" has funny jokes about smoking cocaine with friends.
Both films have long takes that extend from across the street.
The leading actors of both films are seeing a psychiatrist (there are often scenes where the lead character sees a psychiatrist in Woody movies)
Both films are using split screen.
"Annie Hall" actor Iville is stubborn to stick to New York in the film, and the actor Jerry in "The Curious Way" wants to leave New York for Los Angeles to develop.
The male protagonists in both films are professional stand-up comedians, and Woody is like an old Evil teaching his apprentice Jerry.
All kinds of similarities can prove that "Fantastic Tricks" is the new version of "Annie Hall". Unfortunately, as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival, "Stranger Things" once again became Woody's lowest-grossing film when it was put into theaters. The word of mouth of "Director Woody's latest work" plummeted again. British film critic Jason Solomons said bluntly: "This is Woody's worst movie." But I don't think so. I think Woody's worst movie is "Midsummer" Nocturnal Comedy, that movie was nothing, pompous and vulgar. There is still a positive side to "Fantastic Tricks". First of all, in this movie, Woody finally told a lot of jokes that really made me laugh. I wonder if this marks the return of Woody's unique sense of philosophical humor. Secondly, in this film, both the actor Jerry and the supporting actor Woody have jumped out of the old mode of Woody's past and copied his own performance style. We must say that this is a fresh male lead, and we finally don't have to see the old Woody-esque male lead anymore. Once there is this change of wind, the Woody movie plot may become richer.
It is worth mentioning that the mentor played by Woody said in one of his suggestions to the hero Jerry at the end of the film: "Be sure to stay original, and if you can't, copy the most outstanding ones." That's right, Woody has always done this throughout his film career, never shy about parodying or parodying the films of his idol, Ingmar Bergman. In our country, we call this "take the law and get it".
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