Do you want to see ‘Manhattan’?

Manhattan (1979)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 46
Fresh: 45 | Rotten: 1

One of Woody Allen's early classics, Manhattan combines modern, bittersweet humor and timeless romanticism with unerring grace.

100

Average Rating: 8.5/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

One of Woody Allen's early classics, Manhattan combines modern, bittersweet humor and timeless romanticism with unerring grace.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 45,690

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

On the heels of Annie Hall, the Oscar-winning romantic comedy that rocketed Woody Allen to the front ranks of American filmmakers, Manhattan continued Allen's romantic obsessions in a slightly darker, more pessimistic vein. Allen stars as Isaac Davis, a TV comedy writer sick of the pap he is forced to churn out and harboring dreams of being the great American novelist. His love life is in barbed-wire territory: he is tormented by his second ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep), a lesbian who has written

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Drama, Romance, Comedy

Directed By: Woody Allen

Written By: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

In Theaters: Mar 14, 1979 Wide

On DVD: Jul 4, 2000

United Artists

Manhattan Trailer & Photos

Cast

Woody Allen
Isaac Davis
Diane Keaton
Mary Wilke
Michael Murphy
Yale
Mariel Hemingway
Tracy
Meryl Streep
Jill
Anne Byrne (II)
Emily
Karen Ludwig
Connie
Michael O'Donoghue
Dennis
Victor Truro
Party Guest
Tisa Farrow
Party Guest
Helen Hanft
Party Guest
Bella Abzug
Guest of Honor
Kenny Vance
Television Producer
Charles Levin
TV Actor No. 1
David Rasche
TV Actor No. 3
Damion Sheller
Isaac's Son Willie
Wallace Shawn
Jeremiah
Frances Conroy
Shakespearean Actor
Bill Anthony
Porsche Owner
John Doumanian
Porsche Owner
Ray Serra
Pizzeria Waiter
Karen Allen
TV Actor No. 2
Mark Linn-Baker
Shakespearean Actor
Gary Weis
Television Director

Critic Reviews for Manhattan

All Critics (46) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (1) | DVD (14)

Manhattan is not just Woody Allen's dream movie. Wistful as it is witty, it's his dream of the movies.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

J. Hoberman

Village Voice

Top Critic

Allen has, in black and white, captured the inner beauty that lurks behind the outer layer of dirt and grime in Manhattan.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Woody Allen's great leap forward into character development and dramatic integrity.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Mr. Allen's progress as one of our major filmmakers is proceeding so rapidly that we who watch him have to pause occasionally to catch our breath.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

If Manhattan was only a romantic comedy, it would be a very good one, but the fact that the movie has so much more ambition than the 'average' entry into the genre makes it an extraordinary example of the fusion of entertainment and art.

March 14, 2002 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

Seeing it again I realize it's more subtle, more complex, and not about love, but loss.

April 11, 2001 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Allen's cynicism rears its head in this movie quite a bit, and in many ways he pokes fun at his own audience, though I doubt his die-hard fans catch it.

February 6, 2012 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures

| Comment

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

A veritable collector's set of Gotham iconography, Fox's Blu-ray of Woody's swooniest neurotic romance has plenty of slate-gray panache for the film's legions of ardent devotees.

January 31, 2012 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Jaime N. Christley

Slant Magazine

A film with a sharp look and some glinting lines. Still, it's the city that Isaac/Allen has a nostalgic faith in, not people, or love, or even the film itself.

November 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

| Comment

Brian Gibson

Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Arguably this is Woody Allen's masterpiece, in which he revisits the themes of his bittersweet features and refines his distinctive serio-comic tone, not to mention Gordon's Willis brilliant b/w imagery and George Gershwin's evocative score.

August 25, 2010 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Allen's greatest film? Spend time in its company and you'll find it hard to argue otherwise.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Manhattan is a great film about love in and love for New York.

February 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comment

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

This is a deeply self-critical film about immaturity and the gift of real love. Many films can be said to put an epitaph on the decade, but few remain as relevant.

January 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out New York

| Comment

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

One of Woody's more perceptive films.

July 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

One of Woody's most aesthetically gorgeous films as well as his classic love-hate letter to the city of his soul.

November 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

A serious but funny film, both gorgeous and painful.

July 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Cinemania

| Comment

Dan Jardine

Cinemania

Woody Allen's gem of comic kvetching.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

Classic Woody Allen: brilliant and bittersweet.

November 11, 2005 Comment

Carol Cling

Las Vegas Review-Journal

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Manhattan

View All

Truly amazing. Allen's most visually beautiful film with an incredible screenplay executed by a team of incredible actors. Full review later.

January 28, 2010

Thomas Bowler

Super Reviewer

In my original review I said I liked it although I wasn't a particularly big fan of Woody Allen. Well, the more I see the more I like and on a re-watch of Manhattan - after spending last summer there also - I've upped my rating. It's not my favourite of his films so far but it's very of its time and like NY itself, has a certain magic about it.

September 29, 2009

Anthony Lawrie

Super Reviewer

Manhattan Quotes

View All

1. Isaac Davis: Well, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks get right to the point.
2. Mary Wilke: But biting satire is better that physical force.
3. Isaac Davis: No, physical force is better with Nazis. It's hard to satirise a guy with shiny boots.
– Submitted by Matthew D (5 months ago)
1. Party Guest: I finally had an orgasm, and my doctor said it was the wrong kind.
2. Isaac Davis: You had the wrong kind? I have never had the wrong kind, ever. My worst one was right on the money.
– Submitted by Diogo C (5 months ago)
1. Isaac Davis: I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)