Early Woody Allen effort about a neurotic young man, Fielding Mellish (played by
Woody), who falls for attractive social activist, Louise Lasser. They date
for awhile, but she eventually leaves him because he's not a "leader".
Depressed by this, Mellish goes to the (fictional) banana republic of San Marcos
to show that he has concern for the poor people who live there. Once there
he accidentally gets involved with the rebel army and eventually, after they
overthrow the government, placed as the new President.
As with all of Woody's earlier films the humor is mostly physical
slapstick. There's a few laughs (my favorite moment was the break-up
scene. I don't know how much was scripted or not, but it looked like both
Woody and Louise were on the verge of cracking up), but the majority of the
jokes are dated and forced. It's still interesting from a historical point
of view and to see Woody's evolution, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch
it.
