If it weren't for the production design, costumes and performances, this would be just another Woody 'greatest hits' movie, which incorporates all the characters and tropes we have come to expect from him - the bumbling lead/Woody fill-in, the beautiful, boyish girl who has him running circles around her, the mobster from 'Bullets Over Broadway', the Yenta with the best gags (the mother, mostly)... they're all in here. But because we have become so accustomed to them, we are quite happy to be in their company again. The eye-popping sets and costumes, coating the stars like honey (and who glow as such in the Californian sun, by candlelight, under New York gaslamp), make this a gorgeous experience to watch.