The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is a 2001 crime comedy film written and directed by and starring Woody Allen. The cast also features Dan Aykroyd, Helen Hunt, Brian Markinson, Wallace Shawn, David Ogden Stiers, and Charlize Theron. The plot concerns an insurance investigator (Allen) and an efficiency expert (Hunt) who are both hypnotized by a crooked hypnotist (Stiers) into stealing jewels.
In 1940, C.W. Briggs is a veteran investigator at a Manhattan insurance company with a highly successful track record, owing to his intuition and network of informers. Efficiency expert Betty Ann Fitzgerald, who has been recently hired to modernize the company, often clashes with C.W. over his antiquated crime-solving methods. Betty Ann is having a secret affair with their boss, Chris Magruder, who assures her that he will divorce his wife to be with her.
During a company party at the Rainbow Room, magician Voltan brings C.W. and Betty Ann on stage and hypnotizes them into thinking they are in love with each other, using a swinging jade scorpion pendant and the trigger words Constantinople for C.W. and Madagascar for Betty Ann. Returning home later that night, C.W. receives a call from Voltan, who says Constantinople to rehypnotize him into stealing jewels from the Kensington mansion. The next morning, C.W. does not remember committing these crimes. While investigating, C.W. meets the Kensingtons' daughter, Laura, who later attempts to seduce him at his apartment before Voltan calls him and hypnotizes him into robbing another mansion.
Movie Specifications
Original Title: Curse of the Jade Scorpion, The
Danish Title: Skorpioneens forbandelse
Director: Woody Allen
Cast:
Brian Markinson
Woody Allen
Wallace Shawn
Helen Hunt
David Ogden Stiers
Charlize Theron
Elizabeth Berkley
Dan Aykroyd
Spoken languages: English
Subtitles: Danish,Swedish,Norwegian,Finnish
