Annie Hall

Rating

Director

Woody Allen

Screenplay

Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

Length

93 min.

Starring

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken

MPAA Rating

PG

Review

Woody Allen is at the top of his form in the relationship comedy Annie Hall.

Allen plays Alvy Singer a Jewish comedian looking for love in all the wrong places since his break up with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). They are two entirely different people. Alvy’s a neurotic, paranoid nonconformist. Annie’s a neurotic, friendly conformist. If not for their neuroses, the two wouldn’t have been a match at all.

The film explores relationships in a detail that isn’t often seen in motion pictures. A scene late in the film featuring one of Alvy’s new girlfriends calmly criticizing his attempts at humor over his fear of lobsters crystallizes the opinion of the viewer that, despite their flaws and constant bickering, Annie and Alvy were meant to be together. The film doesn’t mince words and doesn’t go for the typical Hollywood ending. It’s not realistic.

Annie Hall is the best Woody Allen film I’ve yet seen. Bullets Over Broadway is intensely fun but all the other comedies I’ve seen of his, from the banal Deconstructing Harry to the limitedly engaging Manhattan Murder Mystery pale in comparison. Allen’s use of dialogue in the film is amazing. He talks to the audience, breaking the fourth wall to bring his own personal opinions to the fore. Instead of tacky voice-overs, he uses the hilarity of the material as a springboard from which to put forth such lovable touches.

Keaton is wonderfully engaging in her role. There are few actresses who would be capable of giving Allen’s script the needed delivery. Her comic timing herein is impeccable.

Although we’ve grown tired of his neurotic style, it may have more to do with the material than with the actor. His work here is on a level all of its own. There are few writer/actor/directors who can create the characters that can fascinate an audience while being fully dimensional. Mel Brooks does great slapstick comedy, but Allen, with Annie Hall does great situational comedy.

Allen crafts an interesting and thoroughly entertaining film as typified in a scene in line at a movie theater. A particularly annoying gentleman, we all know the type, drones incessantly on deriding the style of filmmaker Federico Fellini. This annoys Alvy greatly and he quietly belittles the gentleman to Annie. But when he tackles writer Marshall McLuhan, Alvy accuses him of knowing nothing on the subject. The guy leaps to his own defense informing Alvy that he teaches McLuhan and knows what he’s talking about. To which Alvy takes the audience and the man aside and brings out McLuhan himself to confirm to the professor that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Despite featuring some distinctly high brow topics, Annie Hall never feels like it’s talking down to its audience. The film successfully brings the viewer into its discussion of relationships, creating an intimately involving picture.

Review Written

December 8, 2006