Allen: "I Am Merely Mediocre"

Allen: 'I Am Merely Mediocre'

Director Woody Allen attacked his own work as 'mediocre' and 'miserable' at the premiere for his new movie Match Point last night. The three-time Academy Award winner credits his intellectual appearance with winning over film critics, but rues his lack of commercial success - insisting flocking audiences are the true mark of a great movie-maker. He says, 'I've disappointed myself most of the time. People think I'm an intellectual because I wear glasses and they think I'm an artist because my films lose money. My relationship with the American audience is exactly the same as it has always been: they never came to see my films, and they don't come now. I've often said that the only thing standing between me and greatness is

Strangely enough, I agree. Especially in his middle years, his insistence in using himself as a romantic character in his films ruined credibility and strained our suspension of disbelief. After Soon-Yi, it also became creepy.

People tend to lose their sense of humour as they get older. It happened to Allen, and he had nothing else to fall back on: he felt like Ingmar Bergman, but didn't have Bergman's, or anyone's, talent for movies not wrapped in jokes.