It has been said if the gods want to punish you, first theyll give you forty years of success.

Woody Allen is being punished.

Imagine being a comedian with a brooding soul who longs for fame and fortune as a serious writer and director, but who can only find these rewards by making people laugh.

He can get applause and great reviews at any time, but only for the wrong things. If he does what is near and dear to him, what his in his heart to do, he offends his traditional audiences.

Countless fans have asked the question: Whatever happened to Woody Allen? Why arent his movies funny, anymore?

Even he parodied his conundrum in a film when aliens from space answer his question about the meaning of life with words to the effect, Just go back to making funny movies, and forget about this serious stuff.

Some philosophers of comedy have remarked that at the root of what we find funny, is pain. When someone takes a pratfall or gets a pie thrown in his face, it hurts, but if its done well, it makes us laugh.

This connection might be, at least on a deep, unconscious level, what makes some comedians lose it. They start to explore the dark regions of the soul and then never come back to the happily superficial.

They trade in Buster Keaton for Kafka.

Woody Allen started down his serious path with films such as Interiors and the bittersweet Manhattan, but by the time he brought Crimes & Misdemeanors to the screen, in the late 80s, his funny filmmaking days were over.

Recently, I saw an Australian film that was one of the biggest downers I had ever experienced. Only 5 people were in the movie theater, the last showing on its opening night.

The ads called this film, Woody Allen-esque, which I interpreted as a commendation based on its humor.

The film is depressing and it characterizes people as dour and self-destructive.

Then it hit me.

The ads were right, after all!