Belongs on any list of the funniest films ever made, and for that matter any list of all-time great voice casting. This is the rare loony toon where the non-stop antics really work, and there's just the right amount of focus on the redemption story. My only complaint: So many of the frames are animated sparsely, when I feel like the movie begs for a more colorful, detailed style. Even so, I've probably watched this a dozen times by now, and it's still a riot.

I wish I'd enjoyed this more. The idea of Woody riffing on 8 1/2 is appealing, and he captures some of that manic, jittery energy while also landing a lot of good jokes, most of them about how the film's central character could stand to be funnier. But as much as Woody denies that this is autobiography, it just feels too self-referential, too self-serving-- at times too self-pittying-- and it keeps me at a distance.

Alternate title: V for Vibe. You could live inside this movie, so specific and so rich is its sense of place. It may be among the most beautiful looking films I've ever seen-- and that's a matter of cinematography but also costumes and set design; intoxicating colors, light, compositions. It's a movie of sensual pleasures, generous in beauty and warmth, yet also a masterpiece of subtlety; every scene feels suggestive of bigger things unseen. And that restraint makes the longing, the desire so much more visceral and moving.

One more thing: I love that it's a movie about adultery, but not about the adulterers.