Mia Farrow won’t have to worry about Oscar voters honoring Woody Allen’s latest movie — “Magic in the Moonlight’’ is the 78-year-old filmmaker’s most feeble effort since “Whatever Works’’ in 2009.
This geriatric comedy, which premiered in Manhattan Thursday night, returns to a favorite, increasingly cringe-worthy trope of Woody’s — a much younger woman besotted with a misanthropic, middle-aged man.
Colin Firth is a much better, and vastly more charming actor than Larry David, the Woody surrogate in “Whatever Works.’’
But even Firth can’t put over his problematic part as an egotistical celebrity magician of the 1920s (he performs in yellowface “Asian’’ drag) who sets out to expose a medium. 
The normally wonderful Emma Stone is also severely challenged as the medium — as her character is supposed to be falling in love with a smug, self-centered character who insults her at every turn.
And, of course, there’s nary a mention of the actors’ 28-year age difference.
The only real magic in “Magic in the Moonlight’’ is cinematographer Darius Khondji’s burnished vision of the French Riviera. But it isn’t enough to carry this creaky throwaway of a film, which gives prominently billed Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver practically nothing to do.
Despite Farrow’s campaigning, Cate Blanchett triumphed over a seriously flawed script to win a Best Actress Oscar for Allen’s last film, “Blue Jasmine.’’ But the Woodman’s latest just isn’t a contender.
A full review will appear next week.