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Shadows and Fog

Play trailer Poster for Shadows and Fog PG-13 1992 1h 26m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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54% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A serial strangler is on the loose, and a mob of neighborhood vigilantes is on the hunt. When several neighbors wake up the skittish Max Kleinman (Woody Allen), a bookkeeper, they want him to get dressed and join the search party. Finally pulling himself together, Kleinman goes downstairs to find no one waiting for him. Left to investigate alone, he winds up in one predicament after another, which eventually leads him to meet Irmy (Mia Farrow), a sword swallower from the visiting circus.
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Shadows and Fog

Shadows and Fog

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Critics Consensus

Shadows and Fog recreates the chiaroscuro aesthetic of German Expressionism, but Woody Allen's rambling screenplay retreads the director's neurotic obsessions with derivative results.

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Critics Reviews

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Jack Kroll Newsweek Jan 18, 2013
Shadows and Fog is Woody Allen's first mystery movie. The mystery: what caused this total breakdown of a unique artist? Go to Full Review
Tom Ryan The Sunday Age Aug 30, 2023
3/4
Shadows and Fog will certainly surprise anyone who has settled comfortably into the view that films made in Hollywood are likely to be little more than sanitised, homogenised products packaged to please. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Feb 13, 2023
2.5/4
The circus-related material is thin, and the all-star cast is given little to do. Go to Full Review
Grant Watson Fiction Machine Jun 26, 2020
6/10
The main reason it fails is not because it is not good, but because it simply is not as good as it should be. What is a viewer to do? Go to Full Review
Ellie Lucas From the Front Row Jun 5, 2019
3/4
It's a consistent joy, but it's also unfocused, showcasing Allen's tendency to get lost in unnecessary subplots. Go to Full Review
Malcolm L. Johnson Hartford Courant May 31, 2018
What does Allen intend in this superficially humorous, even cute film about a fearful little quipster running about dark, frightening, cobbled streets? Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Huntin P @PaxVobiscum80 1 day ago Coming off a hot phase in the 1980s and suddenly all manner of A-listers and glamorous folks wanted to take a pay cut to be in a Woody picture. There are some famous names in this one, and it was the director's biggest movie in terms of set building. Sadly, superlatives always brought negative results. The biggest, the longest, the most expensive? Not good results. Shadows and Fog is an adaptation of one of his stage plays. It is a homage to German expressionism, but it isn't a success. Not visually interesting enough, not funny enough, not scary enough. The scenes in the brothel are the most entertaining portions. When Jodie Foster leads Woody away to a back bedroom she says something that will likely make you spit your water, if you happen to be swigging, it is such a laugh. But it's not worth getting on board (steady!) for one good gag (steady as she goes!). See more thiago s @Thiagostone Jul 26, 2025 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jun 2, 2025 Not a classic in just 1 hour and 26 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more TI H @MeInCharacter Oct 29, 2024 I can't give a pretentious review of this material, using words I don't understand, like "German expressionism," but even my peers, the general public, hated this movie. I loved it from beginning to end. Woody Allen is playing his usual neurotic self, using self-depreciating humor to create our bumbling protagonist, a low-level office worker named Kleinman. In the middle of the night, a vigilance mob of concerned citizens wakes the sleeping Kleinman up from his bed to enlist his aid in hunting down a serial killer. They send Kleinman out alone on a foggy night without telling him what part he plays in their plan to capture the killer. It tickles me pink how he spends the entire movie wandering aimlessly, completely confused. //// Three storylines run parallel to Kleinman's: a quarreling circus couple, a whorehouse, and a women who cannot afford to feed her baby. We end the film in a "zen" way, which will either upset you or make you smile. I fell on the smiley side of the fence. My guess is you, the reader of this review, like most viewers, will hate SHADOWS AND FOG. After reading the comments of others, I feel like everyone else has watched a different movie than I have. I'm stunned. As much as I want to go along with the crowd, I can't. I adore this film. See more Alec B @Alec97 Jan 10, 2024 An interesting failure. If 70%-80% of the dialogue had been cut out the visual elements would have taken over the narrative which, given the kind of homage this is, would have been more engaging. See more Aldo G @RT54480587 Sep 23, 2023 I stopped Woody Allen movies movies years ago because I tired of watching him play the same neurotic, self-deprecating lead. That's what he does again in this thinly plotted movie. But, I loved the look of this black and white, German expressionist film and the supporting cast, most given very little, to do is colorful and interesting. If this were in the hands of a writer/director who really cared about developing the story and the characters/cast this would have been a masterwork. See more Read all reviews
Shadows and Fog

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Movie Info

Synopsis A serial strangler is on the loose, and a mob of neighborhood vigilantes is on the hunt. When several neighbors wake up the skittish Max Kleinman (Woody Allen), a bookkeeper, they want him to get dressed and join the search party. Finally pulling himself together, Kleinman goes downstairs to find no one waiting for him. Left to investigate alone, he winds up in one predicament after another, which eventually leads him to meet Irmy (Mia Farrow), a sword swallower from the visiting circus.
Director
Woody Allen
Producer
Robert Greenhut
Production Co
Orion Pictures, Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 12, 1992, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.4M
Runtime
1h 26m
Sound Mix
Surround
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