Except for a few snippets here and there, "Bullets Over Broadway" doesn't seem like a Woody Allen film. This is meant as praise because, speaking as someone who can't tell his comedies from his dramas, I have never really cared for Allen's work as a general rule. But in this film, his typically neurotic characters seem to be neurotic for a purpose, and not just imitations of the director himself.
The plot involves a struggling playwright (John Cusack) who is looking to have his latest, greatest work produced in the New York of decades past. The financing for the play comes from a powerful mobster who insists that his girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) be used in a major role. The girlfriend comes with a mob bodyguard (Chazz Palminteri) who attends each rehearsal. Apart from her, the cast is filled with notable and accomplished actors.
When the actors start noticing that some of the dialogue or plotting is particularly effective, it is the brutish bodyguard who pipes up with suggestions. Although he is initially blown off, all come to realize that his instincts are particularly insightful. At some point he starts furnishing more than just ideas and begins rewrites of specific scenes. As the play gets better and better, its only downfall, the mobster's shrill girlfriend, becomes ever more noticeable.
Apart for a few Allen-isms, such as a discussion about sexual technique carried out by people shouting across the street to one another, "Bullets Over Broadway" is remarkably mainstream. And funny, let's not forget funny. Dianne Wiest, Tracey Ullman and Jennifer Tilly score the strongest at being funny, while Chazz Palminteri is good all around. The others are strictly a matter of taste. But whatever or whoever the cause, "Bullets Over Broadway" easily ranks with the best of Allen's work.