The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

During the Great Depression, a poor, unhappily married woman seeks solace in the movie theaters. Mia Farrow stars as the lead, and she's fantastic and heartbreaking as a woman beaten down by life. She gets scolded at work, and her husband, Danny Aiello, treats her terribly. The only time she feels peace and comfort is when she watches the film The Purple Rose of Cairo. It's magical for her to watch the classic actors—Jeff Daniels, Edward Hermann, John Wood, Deborah Rush, and Karen Akers—repeat the adventurous and romantic plot over and over again on the big silver screen.This isn't my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie—that title is reserved for Hannah and her Sisters—but I always enjoy this hopeful romance whenever I watch it. I'm a Mia Farrow fan, and she's just as sweet and likable in this as she is as Hannah. The portion of the film that shows the old movie is totally authentic. Often, actors feel contemporary or as if they're trying too hard, but everyone on the silver screen really seems like a 1930s actor. The extra dose of makeup, the movements, delivery of their lines, and camera angles will make you think it really is an old movie, and the recognizable faces have been photoshopped in! There's a surprise in the plot, and if you look it up on IMDb, you'll probably read about it. My advice is to just watch it and let the surprise unfold. Many times in Woody Allen movies, his characters find comfort by watching movies. If you identify with that familiar plot point, feel that the best people are often fictional, or ever wished you could interact with movie stars, you'll probably love this movie.

Academy and Golden Globe award winner. Excellent blending of color and black and white. Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels are the star-crossed lovers. The only problem with their romance is that she is already married to a "do-nothing" lazy and abusive husband and Tom Baxter is fictional. He jumps off the movie screen from a typical Depression Era romantic comedy into the Real World. He isn't real. He doesn't even know how (and probably can't) make love. His money is fake and he can't start a real car. The actors left on the screen (in black and white) have absolutely nothing to do and other "Tom Baxters" are trying to walk out of the movie in other cities. So, the real actor flies to New Jersey, and tries to fix it all to save his career and the movie studio from embarrassment and ruin. He pretends to fall in love with Cecilia (Mia); it is all an act and she chooses the real actor Gill (Daniels) as poor "Tom" walks back into the movie. Gill flies back to Hollywood alone, as he only loves himself. Life goes on, and the devastated and unemployed diner waitress "Cecilia" goes back to the movie house to see Fred and Ginger dancing "Cheek-to-Cheek" in "Top Hat". Realistically filmed in a small New Jersey town, a closed amusement park, and an old-fashioned-looking diner. A fast and fascinating 82 minute movie. Done rather "straight" considering the subject matter. Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels have great chemistry together. Also with Van Johnson and Edward Hermann. More romantic than comedy. Not your typical Woody Allen movie and perhaps better because of it.

Awww I really liked watching this film, Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels were adorable. It's sad to think this was set in the Great Depression era. What was even more depressing, I thought Mia Farrows character clearly wasn't lucky in love. I really wish Cecila and the film character Gil were going to be together towards the end. Although if he had to go back in the film, then she should've been with the real Gil. I found it odd that he didn't appear near the end, sure he loved Cecila too! Seriously in my opinion, I think Woody Allen should've had them both living happily ever after. To be honest, I thought the ending was particularly going back to the beginning. It's just Farrows character was beginning to become poor and like, she honestly deserved better. Unfortunately this was 1985, so we can't be complaining now. It is one of the best films at the same time, I really loved the movie! :)

In the days before watching Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, i thought that the story was going to be an adventure movie about a man who goes to Cairo, Egypt to find a purple rose, but turns out I was sort of right. The movie tells the story of a poor waitress named Cecilia (played by Mia Farrow) who wants to escape her horrible marriage all because of her abusive husband Monk (played by Danny Aiello whose performance is very similar to both Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Robert De Niro in Raging Bull), for which Cecilia watches movies to cheer herself up. One day after Cecilia is done with her waitress job she watches an adventure movie called The Purple Rose of Cairo five times in a row, and during the fifth time one of the characters Tom Baxter (played by Jeff Daniels) ends up escaping the theater screen and into the real world and at the same time ends up falling in love with Cecilia, but when that first happens the movie leaves us with one question and that is how he is going to be put back into the screen in which he escaped from along with the help of Gil Sheperd (again played by Jeff Daniels) who obviously played Baxter in the movie. One time when Woody Allen was asked on what he thought that his film was about and he said "Some critics said that The Purple Rose of Cairo was only about the movies, when I think all this movie is about is the difference between fantasy and reality." though I do agree with both critics and Allen himself. Allen blends both fantasy and reality in a way never seen before with brilliance. This movie is a true Woody Allen classic.