Lacing a '40s noir detective melodrama with a heady mixture of screwball comedy and strong tequila, Allen has created so many juicy roles in this comedic "Curse" that he can't do justice to his many oddball characters. "Curse" may also prove to be a Woody Allen movie for people who don't much care for Woody Allen movies. Shorn of the confessional/psychiatric couch tone of many of his Manhattan comedies and even improving upon better period pieces such as "Radio Days" and "Bullets Over Broadway," DreamWorks' "Curse" could develop a better-than-average following in North American and European urban venues.

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