Curse Of The Jade Scorpion is, truth to tell, a very light bit of comedy. This one is for hard-core Woody Allen fans only, and even they will have to search hard to find something to like about the film.

Set in the '40s, Curse Of The Jade Scorpion stars Allen as an ace insurance investigator and Helen Hunt as an efficiency expert with Allen's firm. They do not get along. She thinks his work is old-fashioned and worthless. He thinks she is an emasculating bitch.

When the office crowd visits a hypnotist as a lark one night, both Allen's character and Hunt's are hypnotized. Of course, both claim to be immune to such manipulation.

The hypnotist (David Ogden Stiers) proves to have larcenous ideas, and before long, both Allen and Hunt are pawns in his game.

While hypnotized, the duo also discovers romance.

Curse Of The Jade Scorpion features the fashion and music of the era, with Elizabeth Berkeley, Charlize Theron and even Hunt playing certain '40s 'types' of women. Also in the cast are Dan Aykroyd as the office boss, Wallace Shawn and Brian Markinson.

The movie was shot in New York. There's plenty to look at in the surroundings and period detail, but the story here is pretty slender.

And while the dialogue is classic Allen in comedic terms, much of that shtik is wearing thin. The events and the jokes are so predictable that you never quite lose the feeling you've seen and heard all this before.

Meanwhile, Mr. Allen -- in good company with Mr. Ford, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Douglas and Mr. Connery -- is not too old to get the girl, but such filmic unions would be less unseemly if the girl in question were not always young enough to be his granddaughter. Oh, never mind.

Curse Of The Jade Scorpion is another lightweight entry for Allen, as was last year's Small Time Crooks.

Let's look on the bright side -- whatever the filmmaker/actor does next, there's no place to go but up.

(This film is rated PG)

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