Allen's Best.

Rating: Null/10 (27 October 1998)

I am an unabashed Woody Allen fan. Now, I know that most of us native New Yorkers are predisposed to liking Woody. I have found many midwesterners and Californians who ask why I like him, and, after a collection of well-thought-out reasons, they nod their heads knowingly and dismissingly if I mention that I am originally from New York City.
This movie, though, is about more than New York vs. L.A. It's about more than Jew loves Shiksa. It's about love, life, and disappointment, and it is put together in a very entertaining and precocious way. This is a film maker stretching the envelope. Only Woody Allen could come up with the idea of pulling Marshall Macuhan from behind a billboard to berate a pseudo-intellectual for him. Leave it to a warped mind to toss in an animated section where his love becomes the evil queen from "Snow White." And the subtitled sequence is just perfect.
As with most geniuses, there are many who may not "get" what Woody is trying to say. This is a film, though, that can be seen a hundred times, and something new will pop out every single one of those times. Take it from me; I wrote a sixty page thesis on this movie, and after watching it nearly every day for a semester, I was still learning and discovering.
Woody is in the doghouse these days because of some questionable personal choices. Ignore the man. Consider the work. If you give "Annie Hall" the chance, you will discover a masterfully wrought film that is hilarious, insightful, and touching without ever slipping into the bog of sentimentality. Movies like this are few and far between.