The days when the arrival of a new Woody Allen feature was regarded as a big event are long gone...but perhaps this should serve as a reminder that only a few can rival his light comic touch.

He returns to the 1940s to play infallible New York insurance investigator CW Briggs, a neurotic skirt-chaser who habitually dates the wasp-waisted office Amazons around him.

The arrival of efficiency expert Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Hunt) changes all that - she wants cutbacks in the department and the first thing to be moved are Briggs' files.

Insurance company boss Chris Magruder (Aykroyd) attempts to soothe the office in-fighting by inviting everyone to dinner.

During the evening, Betty and Briggs are both hypnotised into madly declaring their love for one another when they get the magic passwords Constantinople or Madagascar.

However, sinister hypnotist Voltan (David Ogden Stiers) - a sort of evil Paul McKenna - later contacts Briggs, triggers him into a trance and gets him to do a jewel heist using his insider knowledge.

Of course, once out of the influence, Briggs is determined to track down the wrong-doer by doing what he does best - getting into the mind of the thief.

It's getting a bit difficult to suspend disbelief at Allen's ability to woo the likes of Charlize Theron into bed - think Charles Hawtrey getting jiggy with Caprice.

However, the gags still come thick and fast. "I thought you'd appreciate the thick smoke," he tells Betty after inviting her to a gloomy bar. "You don't have to put so much make-up on."

OK, it's the sort of thing Allen can do in his sleep...but unlike most of what passes for comedy today it doesn't have you nodding off after the first reel.

Allen still has an ear for a razor sharp line and the plot passes muster as Briggs is forced to rely on his nemesis Betty when the police start pointing the finger at him.

Hunt's comic timing is as reliable as ever, Allen delivers some waspish lines in time-honoured fashion while the supporting cast, particularly Elizabeth Berkley's flirtatious secretary are a joy.

It's not offering anything new...but at a time when comedy seeks the lowest common denominator it's always gratifying to see a craftsman at work.

Tim Evans