Bullets Over Broadway

In 1920s New York, a struggling young playwright named David Shayne finally gets the backing he needs to stage his new work on Broadway. The money comes from a mob boss, Nick Valenti, who wants something in return: a part for his girlfriend, Olive Neal. Olive is a nightclub dancer with no acting ability, and she arrives at rehearsals under the watch of her bodyguard, Cheech. Around her, the production struggles with an insatiable leading man, an aging star demanding changes to her role, and a general atmosphere of chaos, leaving David to weigh his artistic ambitions against the realities of the deal he has made.

Woody Allen directed the film, the twenty-second of the forty-eight features he has directed in chronological order, following Manhattan Murder Mystery and preceding Mighty Aphrodite. He wrote the screenplay with Douglas McGrath, and Robert Greenhut produced. John Cusack plays David, with Chazz Palminteri as Cheech, Dianne Wiest as Helen Sinclair, Jennifer Tilly as Olive Neal, Mary-Louise Parker as Ellen and Tracey Ullman as Eden Brent. Sixty-four cast members and eighty-four crew members are credited.

Made for a budget of 20 million dollars, the film took 37 million dollars worldwide at the box office. It holds a rating of 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb from around 44,000 votes, 7.1 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 688 votes, and a critics' rating of 8 out of 10 drawn from 59 reviews, indicating broad approval from both reviewers and audiences.