Woody Allan

I used to know a playwright who could write wonderful, witty, sharp and funny dialogue with stories that had a beginning, middle and end - conventional stuff. He got a boost from working for a while for the BBC where he may have had a couple of TV plays done but I never heard that he did; but then he was dropped. They tried to turn him into a serious playwright who had something to say. The trouble was he didn't have anything to say.
I think of him when I see a film by Woody Allen. His films are always well made, have terrific pace; the acting is always superb and the stories are interesting, but.... well, has he anything to say?
Perhaps he doesn't want to say anything about the human condition but I feel that deep down he does. The trouble is he doesn't know what.
I think one of his problems with this "having to say something" is that he was weaned on scriptwriting in a department which depended on the script writers coming up with funny lines. If the plot is taking him one way and there's a good joke another way, he'll go the way of the joke.
I have just seen "Cassandra's Dream" and while watching it wondered why the critics had been so cruel in their panning of it; I thought it well made, well acted, had tremendous drive and pace; but afterwards I wondered what exactly it had to say. What was the point of a serious artist making it? If he is.
His masterpiece, "Crimes and Misdemeanours" was a great achievement with a central performance that was superb - should have won him an oscar. But what was it about? Both that film and "Match Point" and, to a certain extent, "Cassandra's Dream" had to do with getting away with murder and being able to live with a clear conscience afterwards. That said, it's a pretty nihilistic idea, hardly an ethical one.