enefited from Cusack's performance.Bullets Over Broadway tells the story of a young, seemingly talented playwright, David Shayne (Cusack). As the movie begins, he's having problems raising the funding for his latest play. In addition, he has no cast to speak of, and a great deal of self-doubt. His agent finally finds a producer, who happens to be a powerful gangster. The aging gangster, Rocco,agrees to back the play -- as long as his young girlfriend, Olive (Jennifer Tilly) is allowed to play a major role. Cusack agrees without realizing what he's in for. The girl is loud, obnoxious, ditzy and annoying. In addition, she's an absolutely horrible actress in every imaginable way. Of course, Cusack can't back out on the deal, as the gangster makes very clear. As the play begins to take shape, the gangster sends a fellow gangster, Cheech (played by Palminteri), to "supervise" the rehearsals (i.e. to make sure no one cuts Olive's lines or mistreats her). This masterful set up allows Allen and co-writer Douglas McGrath numerous comedic opportunities which they take full advantage of. The "grand lady" of the theatre, Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest), the over-eating thespian (Jack Warden), the gangster's moll, and the stuffy words of the questionably talented playwright come together in the near-perfect rehearsal scenes. In time, Cusack's playwright falls head over heels for the pretentious theatre "star", and they carry on a love affair, all the while making plans for her big comeback to the stage. Wiest often plays the rather obnoxious actress to absurd lengths of characterization, and it works every time; in a film full of comic roles and stereotypes, she all but steals the show.The brilliance of Bullets Over Broadway is that it keeps getting more and more ridiculous, without ever seeming too far-fetched to lose its audience. The final masterstroke of the film's plot(and perhaps its funniest twist) comes when Palminteri, tired of hearing the st...
