Annie Hall (1977)

Annie Hall was 1977's Best Picture winner at the Oscars. I don't think it should have been. It was a solid movie for sure, but I couldn't buy the movie as the best film of 1977. While Woody Allen's Bananas was a screwball comedy, this film does mark Allen's most mature film up to this point. The comedy is still there, but the movie is deeper than in Allen's previous efforts. Allen cited advancing age for his more philosophical views (as he turned forty in 1975 which gave him strong opinions about death.) These philosophical views involves what it means to be romantic, Jewish heritage, the ideas of getting older, the banality of life, and of course as in most Allen's film, a love story to the great city of New York. It also has been told that the movie resembles the personal life of Woody Allen. I wouldn't find that surprising because he did date the star of the film, Diane Keaton at one point. I thoroughly enjoyed the philosophical views that Allen had in the film.That also comes to the crux of my problems I had with the film. All the philosophy is fine and dandy, but people don't realize how much this film is talking. People call this film a masterpiece, but they fail to see that this film is 121 minutes of talking and walking. I was mesmerized by Allen's incredible dialogue, but eventually the talk wore me out (which is hard to do). This is a major issue, but luckily for the film it was the only issue I had. Too much talk, but the words were incredibly fluid thanks to the thoughtful script by Allen. There are some memorable monologues, and I liked how Allen spoke to the camera. It is rare for a movie to have an actor speak to the camera in a successful way, but Allen made it work here. He created a romantic comedy that made people laugh, and also made people cry. It represented more of a mature side to him that people seldom saw before this. Sure his screwball antics are still here, but his maturity level was elevated by several notches.Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is a neurotic stand-up comedian who reflects on the demise of his last relationship. He dated a woman named Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) who was an aspiring nightclub singer. Alvy reflects over the good times and bad times over the course of their relationship and also on factors that caused this relation to happen. He talks about growing up near C0ney Island, how he had sexual desires from a very young age, and how he always felt guilty about his Jewish heritage growing up.I've seen this movie twice. The first time, it took awhile for me to appreciate Woody Allen's acting in this film. This time, I was instantly brought in to the story by his inner monologue. Allen is essentially playing himself with lots of rapid intellectual dialogue. But I enjoyed watching him piece out the information on why his relationship failed. I really did like how be added depth to his character. He may be funny, but it's not all about the comedy this time around. Diane Keaton, whom we know from The Godfather, does very well in her role. Her character is somewhat based off herself she admitted. Her character is shy, insecure at times, but she's sweet and honest. There are some good supporting roles here too. We get to see a young Christopher Walken as Annie's brother Duane. We see two other women that Alvy got into relationships with and they were performed decently from Carol Kane and Shelley Duvall. Also, there are two blink-or-you-miss cameos in the film. Keep any eye out for Jeff Goldblum and Signourey Weaver! Overall, I enjoyed watching what is probably Woody Allen's most personal movie. He later admitted he was not happy with the film because it was not the film he intended to make. But that didn't stop critics and audiences alike all around the world from calling Annie Hall the best movie of 1977. Unfortunately, I do not share that sentiment. I do, however, think this film is a good watch. It's funny at times, but it is also a thoughtful film. I would even call it a semi-experimental film. It's a film that you need to pay utmost attention to or you'll be lost. The story is not linear because there are mnay flashbacks spread throughout. Only Woody Allen could create enough witty and strong dialogue where you wouldn't need action to complement those words. For that reason alone, this film is deserving of its Best Screenplay Oscar win. This movie is a solid watch thanks to a strong, intelligent screenplay and very strong performances from Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. However, it falls short from the masterpiece everyone claims it to be.My Grade: B

Nothing has changed in the 40 years since this film was made. Everyone is still against Jewish people who basically just want to be left alone, judging by the recent idiotic "rant" by the White Supremacists. Woody Allen's very autobiographical and neurotic self-portrait with his lifetime love Diane Keaton. Her character wants to be a White "Billie Holiday". Her Hollywood friends are into lines of cocaine and constant parties. The best "gag" of all is when Woody sneezes and spoils about $2000 of cocaine. Alvy Singer (Woody) makes love to several neurotic "skinny" women. He is a stand-up comedian and writer. He has appeared on TV and with Johnny Carson. It features a ton of "stars" like Paul Simon. Also future stars like Christopher Walken, Shelly Duvall, Carol Kane, and many more, all so very young. Allen carries tons of "Jewish Guilt" around with him. He eats an Easter ham dinner with Annie Hall's family and imagines himself a Rabbi. A doctor suggests that pork and shellfish might have made him sick (non-Kosher "forbidden" foods). Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) is kind of a ditzy character and can't get aroused by Woody's character unless she is high. What women find attractive about him remains a great mystery to me! It starts out slowly and builds into a comedic classic. Of course it will not appeal at all to Millennials and Blue-Eyed "Wasps". It's a acquired taste, just like The Marx Bros. and W.C. Fields comedies. Either you find it hilarious or ya' just don't "get" it at all!

It's a really funny movie. The romantic storyline is quirky, mainly a curdled Alvy's (Allen) observations on life. So if you don't find this quip amusing, the next will fly by in a flash. Director Allen keeps things moving like a NASCAR rally. Oh, but there's the utterly charming Annie (Keaton). Her ditzy manner is so captivating, I couldn't take my eyes off that perpetual smile. But what's she got to smile about. Alvy sees only life's downsides even if in amusing fashion. The goof ball doesn't realize what a gem he's got, so wrapped up is he in his own curdled world.Allen blends talking to the camera, cartoon inserts, thought captions, and flashbacks in seamless fashion. You never know what's coming next, except it'll be funny. I had my doubts when I turned on the movie, like maybe Allen's been over-praised. But I have to admit, it's a one-of-a-kind that takes a lot of risks, but scores big-time.

Annie Hall's directed by Woody Allen, costume design by Ruth Morley, screenplay by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and stars Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Annie Hall's purpose is to show us what happened between Alvy and Annie and why their relationship did not work out, it takes us through all the steps and takes us to his early childhood all the way to when he was dating Annie. Annie Hall follows the life of Alvy Singer, a prolific comedian who (is basically Woody Allen) becomes famous and behind closed doors, is extremely paranoid and worries about everything, he would come off as having neurotic behavior and seems to be suspicious about people. Every since he was a child he has questioned everything and was very intellectual, he has always been more 'advanced' than his colleagues at school, he has always been superior to everyone around him and always knew more, now that he is an adult, he is the underdog of modern society when it comes to being an individual rather than a so-called 'celebrity' and cannot seem to go anywhere without being noticed. I think he starts off telling us about his childhood so we can get a glimpse at why he is the way he is, we can also now understand his tendencies a lot more as now they do not just come out of the blue. And then we meet Annie Hall herself, she has a headache and is in a bad mood and does not have the patience nor energy to listen to Alvy complain again and again. He seems very apathetic towards Annie and doesn't even question her headache, he just thinks she is on her period, that is what he always thinks whenever Annie is in a bad mood, he does not care enough to even ask. Their plan was to go to the movies but it stared 2 MINUTES AGO, Alvy gets too self conscious and decides not to go in, he over exaggerates the situation and so they go spend their time trying to watch a different film. Alvy comes off as being hostile and quite selfish in a sense, always wanting or needing and never really topping to think. They go wait in line for movie tickets and while they are in line a man keeps talking into Alvy's ear, he can't help but listen and he starts to get irritated. He makes commentary while the man keeps talking about directors he likes and dislikes and why, then Alvy and Annie discuss their inactive sexual life quite loudly and then the man goes back to talking again. The break the man took just for them to talk about their sexual life was quite funny but what comes after that is even funnier. The fact that he is not even aware that Alvy and Annie are talking about him is funny and the comedic commentary is also a good touch. Then he breaks the fourth wall and they have an argument right at the camera about Marshall McLuhan, a known professor of media theory and this is the best part. It is a battle between intellectuals if their field and it is done so well. The entire film has that sort of motion of fast paced comedic commentary, quick jokes, quirky fashion, good directing, surrealism, dark humour I mean it has the entire woody Allen experience. I actually really like this movie, one of my favorites, I wish Woody Allen still had the opportunity to make films like this, he still has the talent but opportunity is short, not many people can do this type of comedy and make it work on screen and if they manage to do so it will probably look forced or be very unfunny and not feel authentic or natural enough to be good.Then we get a moment where they once again, discuss their sex life, they bring that conversation full circle and Alvy complains about how they have not had sex in months and he used to be sexy and they used to have sex constantly. This scene shows how sexually lackluster their relationship is and how distant they have grown. You can already start to pin point where the relationship starts to slip through the cracks a little bit. The film goes on like that for a while and that is how we see these characters, mostly through Alvy's perspective which is always exaggerated but they do have their moments of affection. New York is important in this film, it's politics and it's culture are all pivotal to understanding this film, you have to be able to think about what is being said and apply it to what Alvy is going through in the story. You can see the deep down issues with Alvy as well as the women he dates, he dates women who are completely opposite to himself, Annie is ditsy and a hopeless romantic happy go lucky woman and Alvy just likes to be paranoid about everything, make heat of the moment jokes and try to have sex with his ladies.Annie Hall has it's beautiful, soft moments where it is just Annie and Alvy together having a good time, while it has moments of self analysis, sexual discovery, political commentary and critiques of the human condition and society's uneducated intellectuals and relationships in general.