I ran my enthusiastic review of Woody Allen’s Match Point (DreamWorks, 12.25) from the Cannes Film Festival five and half months ago. I opined, in part, that it’s Allen’s “darkest and strongest film — certainly his most moralistically bitter and ironic — since 1989’s Crimes and Misdemeanors….somewhat stiff and artificial here and there, and at the same time scalpel-like in its social observations, this mixed-bag drama deals the same kind of cards and has its footing in more or less the same philosophical realm as Crimes and Misdemeanors, and it has a finale that absolutely kills.” It’s not opening until Christmas Day (seven weeks hence) but the appearance of Peter Biskind’s Allen profile in the current Vanity Fair (and a piece about Biskind’s article in the 10.31 USA Today) means it’s now in active psychological play with forward-thinking entertainment journos. The general impression, however, is that DreamWorks isn’t interested in screening it…yet. Maybe they don’t want too much buzz out there about Match Point being the latest Woody. The consensus among Hollywood marketers seems to be (judging by the trailers and one-sheets for Anything Else and Melinda and Melinda) that a key strategy in selling a Woody Allen film is to play down the fact that it’s a Woody Allen film.