More on Crimes and Misdemeanors

Fast forward to another conversation with a different friend fawning over "Crimes and Misdemeanors." He says it was his all-time favorite Woody Allen movie. I aired my complaints, centered on my disappointment about all the negativity and pessimism emanating from the storyline and dialog, especially the part where the guy feels horrible at the end of the movie for the crime he's committed, and has to live with the guilt tearing him apart on the inside for the rest of his life. My friend tells me that the human despair, about those and other events, that is so successfully conveyed to the viewer is why it's so good. Maybe. But the ability to convey that feeling of guilt and despair to me, the viewer, doesn't make me feel all good about it as a movie. My friend's favorite line comes from Alan Alda's bit about comedy failing when the truth is broken, rather than just being bent.