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= 5 stars

Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts
Directed by Woody Allen

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Woody Allen polarizes many. I find his whiny life observations true, succinct, and hilarious. But I’ve met others who can’t get beyond his personal life, or who write him off as overtly annoying. Annie Hall is easily his best work which has the right amount of balance between autobiography, exasperation, drama, and comedy. Annie Hall might also be the perfect template for the romantic comedy genre.

We all know the stereotypical Woody Allen character, and Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is it. Alvy has a very bleak, pessimistic view of life, and doesn’t like people in general. He has sexual hang ups, and a paranoid view of life which is suggested arose from his Jewish upbringing. In direct contrast, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) is an aspiring singer from the midwest, has a flighty personality, eclectic wardrobe, insecure streak, and uses words like “Grammy,” “la-dee-da,” and “neat.” Annie provides much of the “up” in contrast with Alvy’s incessant “down.”

From the start of Alvy and Annie’s romance it’s obvious they’re an odd fit. They argue whether or not to see a movie that’s already begun. To neurotic Alvy, this breaks some holy movie-going rule. It’s difficult to see exactly why their relationship works except to say that they compliment each other. I think it’s partly because Annie sees Alvy’s cynicism and incompetence as endearingly funny. Nothing more or less is alluded to in the famous “lobster scene,” hilarious with Annie, that Alvy futilely attempts to recreate with a new date. Alvy and Annie move from relationship stages familiar to all, dating, meeting family, moving in together, and weary arguments. Soon we find their personality differences (manifested in different life-goals) insurmountable. Especially heart-breaking is Alvy’s pathetic marriage proposal following Annie’s move to Los Angeles. One strength of Annie Hall is its courage in handling their painful but inevitable break-up, somehow managing to find a zen-like acceptance.

One of Annie Hall’s neatest traits is its use of simple film techniques to remove us from the reality presented, for narrative effect. An adult Alvy appears in a flashback of his own childhood. Alvy and Annie visit a flashback of a younger Annie being seduced by a past lover. We see subtitles used to reveal unspoken thoughts, overlays to demonstrate an “out of body” experience, people talking between split-screens, and even a cartoon segment. Each instance is a clever surprise.

Alvy’s dislike of California provides some excellent material. The contrast between New York and Los Angeles produces some great observations like the immorality of canned laughter, difficulty of driving everywhere, Christmas with no snow, and biting lines such as “I’ll have the alfalfa sprouts and a plate of mashed yeast.”

Some aspects of this film I’m still not thrilled about. Alvy has a supporting cast of women that he’s had relationships with, serving to illustrate nothing but his history as a failed womanizer. One example would probably do; instead we get three. Worse still, this is a common trait of many Allen films. One can’t help but wonder if Allen gets some perverse satisfaction in casting current cute actresses and sleeping with them via his movies. Note the most recent Hollywood Ending where senior-citizen Woody gets it on with Debra Messing and Tea Leoni.

Second, I don’t find Alvy’s best friend Rob (Tony Roberts) particularly friendly, nor best at anything. Following his move to Los Angeles he’s got a couple great lines, but overall he doesn’t seem to serve as anything more than a brick wall for Alvy to rattle off a litany of paranoid observations and complaints. Most strange, he seems rather unenthused by Annie and unconcerned over Alvy’s torment. I suppose he’s better off in California.

A few bit parts worth watching out for: Christopher Walken as Annie’s spooky brother Duane, Jeff Goldblum as a flaky party-goer, and Paul Simon as a record producer.

Allen’s early films were slapstick comedies (Bananas, Sleeper). He moved towards drama (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Interiors) and a near unwatchable attempt at channeling Bergman (Shadows and Fog). He’s been working back towards romantic comedies (Mighty Aphrodite, Bullets Over Broadway) which I’ve found amusingly pale imitations of his earlier works. His films between Annie Hall and Crimes and Misdemeanors are easily the pinnacle of his catalog and the mark by which all his future films will be measured - fair or not, Annie Hall alone is a great enough film it would be impossible to see any other way. It won four Academy Awards, beating out Star Wars for best picture, earned Diane Keaton a Best Actress award, and Woody Allen Best Director. Sadly, given Allen’s recent output it’s difficult to see him repeating that feat.

IMDB: Annie Hall
Wikipedia: Annie Hall
Rotten Tomates: Annie Hall 98%

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