Claire Bloom, David Ogden Stiers, Donald Symington

An upscale New York couple decide to adopt a child. Years later, after he proves to be extremely intelligent, the adoptive father sets out to find the biological mother who, he believes, must be a gen...( read more  read more... )ius. Instead, he finds a young woman who is a prostitute with a scarred past.

Flixster Users

69% liked it

16,617 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

32 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Woody Allen

Release Date: October 27, 1995

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DVD Release Date: March 16, 1999

Stats: 586 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (586)


  • October 29, 2009
    "Of all human weaknesses, obsession is the most dangerous, and the silliest!"

    When he discovers his adopted son is a genius, a New York sportswriter seeks out the boy's birth mother: a prostitute.

    REVIEW
    ...( read more)>
    A cute, solid Woody Allen comedy that's not as good as many of the comedies that came before but is worlds better than many that came after.

    Allen plays a sports writer who goes searching for the mother of his adopted son, only to find that she's a prostitute. Played by Mira Sorvino, this character is one of Allen's most delightful creations, a Judy Holliday with a foul mouth. In fact, this is one of Allen's raunchier movies, but it's also one of his sweetest. Sorvino walks a tightrope between dingy and heartbreaking that deservedly won her an Oscar.

    Allen uses a Greek chorus to comment on the action throughout the film, populated with famous actors like Olympia Dukakis, F. Murray Abraham and Jack Warden.
  • October 17, 2009
    Odd, like all of Woody's films. It was alright and kind of funny though.
  • June 13, 2009
    I think I enjoyed this a little more than I should have: it kind of skirts the heavier issues and makes the central plot point - tracking down your adopted child's birth mother - awfully light, and it's a little on the corny side in places... Mira Sorvino, for example, is over th...( read more)e top, and Michael Rappaport is... well, Michael Rappaport. Nevertheless, the ironically used Greek chorus and the framing of the main characters' quest in terms of the Oedipus plot should go down as one of Allen's cleverest devices, and though Woody Allen was basically playing himself (as he always does), he yet again inserted himself into a story crazy enough for his "character" (persona, more precisely?) to be believable.
  • April 20, 2008
    After a ten year drought of comedy, he kicks it old school with this laugh riot.
  • January 30, 2008
    Although an old-fashioned Woody Allen comedy of misadventure in essence - a story at the service of gags that are built around the personality of a neurotic New Yorker - Mighty Aphrodite is by far Allen's most optimistic and positive film. Frames of a very funny fake Greek...( read more) chorus performing at the magnificent ruins of the Greek theater in Taormina, Sicily (their best bit of advice to the protagonist: "Please, Lenny, don't be a schmuck") and a wonderfully entertaining performance by Mira Sorvino, playing a dumb-but-good-natured hooker, rise the film to a higher level.
  • October 2, 2009
    I never really noticed before how annoying Mira Sorvino's voice is! Still, I like her as an actress and as a person. The Greek chorus was a fun touch to add to the film and I liked the attention brought to their costumes, location and all. Overall, it was a great Allen comedy but...( read more) definitely not my favorite.
  • August 1, 2009
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  • July 23, 2009
    I'm not sure why this movie got so many accolades. I don't much care for Woody Allen but I do like Mira Sorvino and she's played many roles better than this one, most notably as the wife of crack addict Michael Imperioli in "Sweet Nothing."

    Not sure why she really got that Oscar...( read more) but then, I'm sure she deserved it just for putting up with Woody Allen's drooling.
  • July 12, 2009
    I especially like the ancient greek drama flipbacks
  • May 14, 2009
    How does Woody Allen churn out such interesting movies over and over again? This one takes a slight turn from his usual plot - there's not as many intricate love dodecahedrons. The plot is fairly simple: Woody Allen plays a man who goes searching for his adopted son's birth mothe...( read more)r. He finds out she is a prostitute and builds a friendship with her to try to convince her to switch professions. Mira Sorvino is hilarious as the birth mother, who is extremely dumb but convinced she's a budding intellectual. They're all accompanied by a sort of Greek dramatic chorus that helps their story along. Sometimes that worked, and sometimes the joke got a little old. But it didn't matter all that much because it would never take too long to return to the heart of the story, where Allen's trademark snappy dialogue and very upbeat story made it one of the most feel-good films he's ever made. Definitely worth watching.

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Mighty Aphrodite Trivia


  • Which Woody Allen film features a greek chorus?  Answer »
  • Who was 'Mighty Aphrodite'?  Answer »
  • What actor links the following films? Mighty Aphrodite Naked Lunch Robocop  Answer »
  • In the movie The Mighty Aphrodite, how did Linda (played by Mira Sorvino) conceive Max?  Answer »

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