Line #7 Film/TheCurseOfTheJadeScorpion


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_curse_of_the_jade_scorpion.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: C.W., Voltan and Betty Ann. ]]
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4	''The Curse of the Jade Scorpion'' is an American crime comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Creator/WoodyAllen. It was released on August 21, 2001.
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6	The story, set in 1940 New York, follows C.W. Briggs (Allen), an insurance investigator, and Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Creator/HelenHunt), an efficiency expert. Both are hypnotized by Voltan (Creator/DavidOgdenStiers), a crooked stage magician, into stealing jewels from the wealthy Kensington family. The movie details the ensuing robberies and the investigation and attempts to overcome the hypnosis. Since this is still a Woody Allen movie, there's a strong subplot focused on the relationships of C.W., Betty Ann, and their boss Chris Magruder (Creator/DanAykroyd), who is having an extramarital affair with Betty Ann. Also mixed up in the story are C.W.'s coworkers George (Creator/WallaceShawn) and Al (Creator/BrianMarkinson) and the Kensingtons' vampish daughter Laura (Creator/CharlizeTheron).
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9	!!Tropes:
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11	* BenevolentBoss: Magruder has his flaws, but he spends a long time defending Briggs against any accusations. And once he's finally convinced that Briggs is the thief, he still talks about him sympathetically, saying that it couldn't have been easy putting up with all that temptation for so many years.
12	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: PlayedForLaughs with Briggs, paticularly when the hypnosis kicks in when he's with Laura Kensington. She's literally in nothing but a trenchcoat on C.W.'s bed when he politely asks her to leave. When C.W. gets his memory back he refuses to believe that he walked away from her.
13	* ChekhovsHobby: George's fondness for card tricks and other magic stuff helps him figure out the hypnosis at the end and free Briggs from it.
14	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Voltan is willing to frame people for his crimes, but he isn't a murderer, as shown when he has Briggs and Betty Ann at gunpoint in the final scene.
15	* ExitPursuedByABear: Voltan does an "exit pursued by the police" variant and its unrevealed if he got away.
16	* FemmeFatale: Laura Kensington is a sendup of the type.
17	* GenreThrowback: To '30s ScrewballComedy amd '40s FilmNoir.
18	* HypnoFool: Both C.W. and Betty Ann are victims of this trope.
19	* IRejectYourReality: C.W. when confronted by Magruder with his own shoeprints.
20	* LoveTriangle: C.W. loves Betty Ann; Betty Ann loves Magruder; Magruder's still married (although unusually he isn't lying about his plans to eventually leave his wife).
21	* ManchurianAgent: The premise of the film.
22	* NonProtagonistResolver: It's C.W.'s fellow investigators George and Al (the only ones besides Jill to believe in his innocence throughout the whole film) who figure out that he was hypnotized, and who the real thief is.
23	* {{Sexophone}}: When Laura Kensington (a first-class FemmeFatale) shows up, sax music shows right up with her.
24	* SexySecretary: Jill and Rosie the secretaries wear form-flattering clothes, albeit in a downplayed, 1940s fashion.
25	--> '''Al:''' ''[Watching Jill walk away]'': My God, that girl's got a body that won't quit!
26	--> '''C.W.:''' Quit? It won't take five minutes off for a coffee break.
27	* SiblingTeam: The Coopersmith brothers, two rival detectives.
28	* StageMagician: Voltan the Great.
29	* TriggerPhrase: Madagascar. Constantinople. Apparently Voltan wasn't a fraud after all.

Context Film / TheCurseOfTheJadeScorpion