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Bananas
1971 82 min United States of America PG-13 12+
★7.1
Comedy
Director: Woody Allen
Trailers
Description
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.
Budget:
$2M
Worldwide:
$11.83M
Starring
Woody Allen
Actor
Louise Lasser
Actor
Carlos Montalbán
Actor
Awards
2 nominations total
Key opinion
Bananas is widely considered an essential, if uneven, early experimental work that showcases the nascent brilliance of Woody Allen's comedic voice. While some viewers find its disjointed, sketch-like structure and absurd humor to be a masterpiece of satire, others criticize it as an amateurish and chaotic collection of failed gags.
| Theme | The film functions as a bold and effective satire that mocks American social institutions, politics, and the absurdity of the era's revolutionary movements. | |
| Acting | Allen's performance establishes his iconic persona as the socially awkward, insecure, and neurotic 'little man' who finds himself in surreal circumstances. | |
| Pacing | The episodic, sketch-based structure leads to a disjointed narrative that some find hilariously inventive, while others dismiss it as shapeless and poorly paced. | |
| Humor | The humor is polarizing, relying on a blend of slapstick, absurdity, and intellectual wit that delights fans of early Allen but feels like a collection of clumsy, failed jokes to detractors. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay is praised by supporters for its sharp, witty dialogue and clever subversion of tropes, whereas critics view it as an unpolished, amateurish attempt at parody. |