One of the best films from Woody Allen's underrated early '80s period, Broadway Danny Rose immediately suggests the slightness of A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy but eventually reveals itself as a more substantive work thanks largely to Allen's performance in the title role. As an actor, Allen may be capable of offering only minor variations on the persona developed in his stand-up routine, but here he comes up with one of his most poignant -- a man kept from the bigtime not from some inherent flaw but through his own selflessness. The film also allows Mia Farrow a good deal more freedom than she has been granted in any other Allen outing: too much, it might be argued, during her gangster moll character's broader moments, but she manages a funny performance nonetheless. A borderline slapstick climax doesn't quite work, but by that point it doesn't quite matter: Allen has crafted a film that's immediately charming and, in the end, unexpectedly moving.