Today’s quick review: Bananas. After a breakup with his politically active girlfriend Nancy (Louise Lasser), Fielding Mellish (Woody Allen) travels to the island of San Marcos to see what life is like under the dictator Emilio Vargas (Carlos Montalban). When Vargas tries to have Mellish killed as part of a plot to frame his enemies, Mellish becomes the reluctant leader of a band of rebels seeking to overthrow Vargas and establish democracy.
Bananas is a political comedy written and directed by Woody Allen. Allen stars as an American college dropout who ends up at the center of a revolution in a small Latin American country. Bananas puts a wry spin on modern culture and politics. Mellish, an ordinary man, is swept up in the current of events, becoming first a victim, then a leader, and finally a scapegoat. Bananas has sharp writing and an interesting premise, but it lacks flow.
Bananas’ strength lies in its individual jokes. The movie has plenty to say about topics ranging from love and romance to the cyclical nature of political revolutions. Mellish’s insecurities are a reliable source of humor, and his attempts to navigate the world around him serve to highlight its absurdity. Bananas also has its fair share of jokes that are simply absurd for their own sake, without any deeper cultural commentary.
The main drawback of Bananas is that it does not flow well. The jokes work well on their own, but many of them are shoehorned in somewhere vaguely appropriate, rather than arising naturally from the story. This leads to a movie that’s full of brief tangents, stopping the plot temporarily for the sake of a joke that may or may not hit the mark. The story itself is also thin, more a vehicle for humor than something that stands on its own.
Bananas is a solid pick for fans of Woody Allen’s comedy, but how much you get out of it will depend on your specific tastes. Those who enjoy dry humor, awkward situations, cultural commentary, and a dash of absurdity will get the most out of the movie. Those who prefer comedies that are more character-driven and cohesive should approach with caution.
For subtler and more artistically ambitious cultural commentary from Woody Allen, try Zelig. For another absurd comedy from Woody Allen about a man far away from his home, try Sleeper.
[7.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066808/). I give it a 6.5 for fine jokes but poor cohesion.