Movies by Woody Allen: Ranking His Filmography from Worst to Best (Including Blue Jasmine)

30. To Rome with Love (2012)

This series of quirky vignettes will never escape the fatal mistake of casting Ellen Page and Greta Gerwig backwards. Two of the four storylines (the paparazzi-panning Roberto Benigni sketch and the opera shower singer farce) are magical, while the other two are misfires. It’s half of a great movie.

29. Interiors (1978)

It’s really a pretty damn fine film. I just don’t enjoy it much. That’s saying something, considering I even enjoy the bad Woody features. It also feels like ventriloquism, like some other director had their hand up Woody’s arse. Almost all his films possess his spirit, but this one just doesn’t. Somehow Interiors was the movie he released the year I was born. Figures.

28. Small Time Crooks (2000)

Michael Rapaport. Tracy Ullman. Jon Lovitz. I know, it sounds like a dais for a Comedy Central Roast. Which makes sense given that it’s funny, but not something you’re going to remember down the road. It’s a poor man’s The Ladykillers, with the Woodster importing a similar story across the pond, from London to NYC. Larceny, Inc. is another obvious inspiration.

27. Stardust Memories (1980)

Coming off of Annie Hall and Manhattan, Woody could do whatever the hell he wanted. He wanted to make a self-examining middle finger to critics and fans. It’s pretty similar in aim to Celebrity, and not much more effective. He was trying to be Fellini here, and, personally, I prefer Woody trying to be Woody. I probably need to revisit this one, but it didn’t make much of an impression on me when I watched it in my mid-twenties.

26. Melinda and Melinda (2004)

Woody Allen directing Sliding Doors. Definitely worth a watch, but it just never quite lives up to the potential of the premise. What a waste of Chiwetel Ejiofor. Seeing Will Ferrell do his version of Woody, however, is a blast even if things never fully gel.

25. Cassandra’s Dream (2007)

This is where it starts getting good. Likely Allen’s least famous title, it’s also one of his most underrated projects. Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor both shine. Eerily similar to the slightly better Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, which coincidentally also came out in 2007. Perhaps that explains why this film struggled?

24. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

Gotta applaud Allen for even attempting a musical, especially a naturalistic one where the actors sang and danced like normal people. Um, if normal people randomly broke out into song and dance, I suppose. This is the kinda Woody number that would make your mother’s top 10. Just not mine. Rumor has it that there’s a three-hour cut of this movie buried in Woody’s closet. I believe that would be his longest running time by far. Not sure it would work. Brevity is his bag; it would be like the Beatles trying to record Zeppelin’s 11-minute epic “In My Time Of Dying.”

23. Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Mira Sorvino, who took home a  Best Supporting Actress trophy for her portrayal of an airhead hooker, was on fire in this joint. It’s a movie that works much better than it should due to the chemistry she shared with Allen. The way the film ends is brilliant and the F. Murray Abraham-led Greek Chorus is surprisingly effective.

22. Take the Money and Run (1969)

He originally wanted Jerry Lewis to direct his script. Thankfully, Lewis did not. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t be writing this article. This was Woody’s first really good movie, in only his second outing. It was also one of the first successful mockumentaries. Likely partially inspired by Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread, this early Allen effort would pave the way for hits like This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman and Borat.

21. Another Woman (1988)

Another Berman knock-off. Still, it’s the best hodgepodge of his own style and the style of his biggest idol. It also led to fully realized dramatic efforts during Woody’s late-career resurgence, notably Blue Jasmine and Match Point.

20. Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

Sean Penn starring in a Woody Allen love letter to Jazz? Yes, please. The fake real interviews spliced into the picture worked exceptionally well. So well that the underrated Confessions of a Dangerous Mind cribbed the same style three years later. A much finer attempt at channeling Fellini (La Strada) than Stardust Memories.

19. Bananas (1971)

Not as funny as either Love and Death or Sleeper, but still a riot. It’s pretty all over the place, but it’s also the kind of movie you can watch all the time. A real crowd-pleaser. It starred his second wife Louise Lasser, kicking off the trend of Woody working with his real-life muses.

18. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

It’s exactly what it sounds like; the guy who did Manhattan helming a Murder Mystery. This detective story is far from Allen’s best Diane Keaton starrer, but it’s certainly underrated. The climax involving all the mirrors is one of my favorite Woody scenes of all time. Alan Alda and Anjelica Huston both shine in supporting roles, seemingly a winning formula for the diminutive director (more on that to come).

17. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Penelope Cruz drops arguably a top-five Woody performance and took home some Oscar hardware as a result. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Christopher Evan Welch narrating — it reminded viewers that we were in a movie, and not in that cool, subtle Children of Men blood-on-the-camera way — but the acting is superb. Rebecca Hall was incredible. Hopefully, she and Woody will work together again down the road. She’s a good fit as a Woody leading lady.

16. Blue Jasmine (2013)

Hand Cate Blanchett her Oscar. Top three acting performance in an Allen flick ever. This Tennesee-Williams-meets-Bernie-Madoff gut punch might deserve a better ranking, but it needs more time to gestate. Hard to say if it’s more relevant or recycled this early on. One thing is for sure: Woody needs a new music supervisor. What was “bumping” in those party scenes? Rejected beer commercial grooves? Outdated elevator music? Blue Jasmine ranks just outside the top 15. For now. That could easily change down the road.

15. Zelig (1983)

Call it a one-joke wonder if you will, but the one joke never wears out its welcome during the slight 79-minute run time. The execution? Even more impressive. I still marvel at how this was pulled off using bluescreen technology over a decade before movies like Forrest Gump took chroma keying to the next level.

14, 13. Love and Death (1975), Sleeper (1973)

This pair of hysterical parodies, chronologically released back-to-back, paved the way for Annie Hall and everything after. This period (1973-75) is where Woody found his style. Unlike Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex… these movies weren’t just slapstick and set pieces. They were hilarious and had a plot that actually went somewhere.

12. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

The first Woody Allen picture I saw on the big screen. Perhaps that has lead to me overvaluing the mob-mocking comedy? Don’t speak (I still think Gwen Stefani stole her famous lyrics from this movie. Just sayin’.). I have an irrational love for Bullets Over Broadway (for instance, FanSided’s Knicks site is named after the movie), because it’s the one that gave me the bug. Whether it’s sports, music, movies, etc., the moment that turned you into a fan will always hold a special place. Dianne Wiest won her second Oscar for a Woody role — Christoph Waltz-Q.T. style — and she deserved it. John Cusack also made a helluva Woody surrogate.

11. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

Excluding this from my top 10 was my most excruciating decision. Allen has taken on show business on many, many occasions, but this was one of his best show biz send-ups by far. It also marks Mia Farrow’s greatest performance out of her dozen Woody roles in 13 years. Hands down. That’s saying something considering she was with him at the height of his powers.

Counting down the top 10 after the jump…