Radio Days Reviews

Writer-director Woody Allen draws on his own past in this nostalgic piece, cross-cutting between the Brooklyn of his youth, in this case the Rockaway area, and the uptown life being led by radio personalities. Allen gives us a typical yet intriguing family in Rockaway. Joe (Seth Green) is the youthful protagonist who lives with his parents (Julie Kavner and Michael Tucker), grandparents (Willian Magerman and Leah Carrey), maiden aunt Bea (Dianne Wiest), uncle Abe (Josh Mostel, son of Zero), Abe's wife Ceil (Renee Lippin), and their daughter Ruthie (Joy Newman). In voice-over, Allen (who doesn't appear in the film) relates stories about members of this household. While life goes on in Brooklyn, Allen intercuts stories about radio and its personalities, many of the tales focusing on Sally White (Mia Farrow), a cigarette girl with a dreadful "Noo Yawk" accent who dreams of radio stardom. If this summary sounds disjointed, so is the film. There is no real story, just a succession of funny and nostalgic interludes. Allen presents a host of anecdotes and remembrances of things past, but one wishes it could have been slightly more cohesive. One of the joys in this picture is the soundtrack of songs of the period that will delight anyone who lived in those radio days.