Yes, but writers still need to do their research. A story is a story and if the plot is a mess, it doesn't matter that the writer made hizzer point. My critique in this vein is that Allen used Boulder, CO as a city that a character's "…never going back to". No one says that about Boulder: It's a pretty, progressive college town with all the amenities. If Allen wanted to express a town that one would swear they would never go back to, he should've picked a random hick town a la Milledgeville, GA in Pretty Woman. Typical New Yorker's view of Everything Outside New York.
When you think of garbage, think of Hakeem!
Folks, calm down! This is not the last chopper outta Saigon!

Honestly, do you think Woody Allen deeply researched police investigations and forensics? Judging by the police characters and scenes, Allen wasn't exactly going for Hill Street Blues authenticity. The point of the movie was Chris Wilton got all the breaks while Nola didn't. Everything went against herher failed relationship with Tom, her failed attempt to get in with the Hewitts, her failed acting career. Meanwhile, Chris succeeded in his endeavors with the Hewitts and attaining financial comfort.
To put it bluntly, it really sucked to be Nola! And it wasn't like she was any worse than Chris. Them are the breaksis basically Allen's fatalistic message.

Question (I'm ignorant on this): why would the cops do an autopsy? She was shot. Cause of death pretty clear, no? I can see them pulling the bullet out to analyze the caliber, but wouldn't that be it? Is it really standard procedure that they always do it?

You sound like you're angry that Chris didn't get caught. Seems like you missed the whole point of the movie.
And second Nola was most likely lying about the pregnancy. That's why she was freaking out about the vacation so much. The longer it took for Chris to tell Chloe, the sooner he would have realized that she wasn't actually pregnant.
What I was wondering myself was that her co-worker didn't say anything. It was implied that she knew that Chris had an affair with Nola. But again she probably didn't come forth with any new information for the police, cause Nola was lying about the pregnancy and only Chris "knew" about it.

Yeah, Chris never demanded proof, notice that? Maybe he figured she wouldn't lie to him like that.

I do not think Nola was pregnant; she was just trying to entrap Chris to spite the Hewitts. As mentioned above, the police do not take on unwinnable cases.

I wonder if she had lied about that. The police never mention anything about her being pregnant at any time, and I'm sure an autopsy would've shown it.

Agree. The cops on the scene were utterly distracted when the neighbor Ian was trying to give them his account. They didn't care about facts and piecing together a case.
When you think of garbage, think of Hakeem!
Folks, calm down! This is not the last chopper outta Saigon!

I watched it again most recently and I see now why they would drop it. Our cops would probably not have been so delicate with him in their questioning and would have pursued the angle of him killing her more than they did, but they did suspect him and at least one cop was going to pursue him after figuring out how he did it. I'm going to assume that if he did, they would have checked phone records, more people would have been interviewed (although it was already known they here having an affair). The motive was getting rid of a pesky girlfriend, pregnant or not. The big but for the prosecution would be getting around the ring being found on the junkie - big reasonable doubt that any defense attorney would have gotten him off for and probably big enough that the prosecution would not have gone on. However, but for luck, if they had pursued it, they would have found the cabdriver and the guy he bumped into, and even the hatcheck girl who could have said those were some damned heavy rackets (also no one to have seen him actually using the things that day). It would have been all circumstantial, but maybe, maybe just maybe some prosecutor would think he could get passt all that. It's also all about winning in court and prosecutors don't take on unwinnable cases and so even if they knew in their gut he was guilty, they wouldn't necessarily bring himm to trial or they would take years building a case hoping the circumstantial stuff would override the ring being found on a dead junkie.
http://www.auplod.com/u/dalpuo430da.png

If I could thumbs up your comment I would give it 100 thumbs up. Very well said.
Always look for the positive in every situation.

Some people are so thick in this world you need to explain EVERYTHING to them in black and white so they understand..
The ring found by the drug dealer threw the police of.. one of the investigators worked it out and then suddenly the drug dealer was found with her ring that he had thrown.. it's a huge analogy about luck, did you not listen to the opening scene where he talks about luck and luck is a major theme through out the movie, he has several conversations about it. He was lucky the ring hits the banister and lucky the drug dealer picked the ring up.. He's LUCKY.
I hate it how people like you exist.

It proves that Nola was making up the pregnancy to trap Chris into leaving his wife. Since Nola's pregnancy did not show up in the autopsy, it means she was not pregnant.

If she actually was pregnant, she would have mentioned her desperation in her diary and the police would not have been so quick to dismiss him as a murder suspect.
And yes, it probably would have turned up in an autopsy as well.
Her pushy attitude was enough to make you doubt that she was actually pregnant.

Why would she necessarily write that she'd told him? Girls keep diaries to express their feelings for future reference, not to give accurate, objective and detailed accounts of everyday life. Maybe she didn't want to admit to herself that her wrecking of Tom's marriage was based on a lie. "I've finally convinced Chris to leave his wife" would be enough for future reference.

There were never any bullets, but shot, he used his father-in-law's shotgun to dispatch Nola and Nola's neighbour.
The police have no way to see if shot came out a particular shotgun. Bullets from handguns and rifles are traceable, shot is not.

the bullets dont need to match cause the gun was never found.
Absolutely! That's not an issue at all.
@Missy rocks
And even if she really wasn't pregnant, given she kept the diary, she would've discussed having tTOLD him she was.
I really don't think we can categorically say that.
I'm really not sure whether she was pregnant or not, but what I found really interesting, was that Mrs Eastby's ghost says she was, in the dream sequence.
Who was having the dream? Was it Chris or the police officer? If it was the cop (who comes to work the next morning claiming he's solved the case) you'd have to think that the police were aware that she was pregnant. If it was Chriswell fate again dealt him a lucky hand.

the bullets dont need to match cause the gun was never found. that dead junky who found the ring and got murdered himself is the supposed killer.

Interesting. I never thought of her not really being pregnant but I did think it was a huge hole in the plot to not have the pregnancy mentioned in the diary nor the autopsy. And even if she really wasn't pregnant, given she kept the diary, she would've discussed having tTOLD him she was. It's a huge hole in the plot either way. But either way, Chris gets lucky by missing dumping the ring and they have their suspect. But, of course, if the bullets used in the dead drug dealer's murder don't match to the gun in the other crime plus Chris' motive More holes.
This is always a good movie again similar to Crimes and Misdemeanors- luck trumps reprehensible immorality.

Noala SAID she was pregnant, doesn't mean it was true.

I agree that Nola was never pregnant.
Did anyone else notice the crazy number of pills she was taking, every time Chris was arguing with her about leaving Chloe, she rifled through an alarming number of bottles, chose one, and took some pills out. I'm pretty safe in saying they weren't vitamins, who thinks of taking a prenatal supplement in the middle of arguing about the course of your life?
She said that she had an abortion when "she was young" and another when she was engaged to Tom. I didn't get the impression from Tom that he was the most loving and affectionate husband material, but I also didn't feel like he was likely to push someone to an abortion.
I think the two of them deserved each other and their lies.

Nola was never pregnant.
The first thing the police will do on a murder victim is to do an autopsy, and one of the many things they checked on female victim was whether she was pregnant or not. There is no chance they would miss that on autopsy. And besides, nothing about pregnancy seemed to be mentioned in the diary.
So obviously, Nola was never pregnant in the first place.

Just because Nola said she was pregnant we can't be sure she really was. She may have been saying she was to get him to leave his wife.

I also thought that. It seemed she was getting more and more desperate to trap him into a long-term relationship using the alleged pregnancy. We have nothing but her word that she is with child.

Now I'm gonna have to watch the movie again, since I can't remember enough to say for sure. I just remember thinking, at the time, that obviously Nola wasn't actually pregnant.