An American Classic

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2005)

Woody is firing from all cylinders, nailing one joke after another in this modern American classic. While ultimately considered a romantic comedy, Annie Hall defies all labels, blending multiple genres and creating a few new ones in the process.
It's difficult to imagine for many of today's younger film-goers, but Woody Allen was once a terribly respected celebrity who could seem to do no wrong. In recent years his personal life and spotty track record have diminished his reputation, but many of his early works (Annie Hall chief among them) will live forever.
In this brilliant dissection of an on-again/off-again couple, Allen plays Alvy Singer, a neurotic comedian undergoing a mid-life crisis. It's a role that Allen created, defined, and has essentially been playing in one form or another ever since. His love interest at the time (both on and off-screen) was Diane Keaton, who won a well-deserved Oscar for her performance as the title character. Annie and Alvy are both nuts (in general and about each other), but their differences play against and alongside one another beautifully. The film's resolution may leave some of us sighing, but we know it's the only sensible outcome.
As stated earlier, Allen is in top form here, as a writer, actor, AND director. While some of his films around this time were more artsy, this one seemed to be his most creative, original effort. While he still wears his influences on his sleeves, actually naming a few in various scenes, his maniacal interpretation of his material is endlessly inspired. Everything from flashbacks to speaking to the camera to animation are employed perfectly in this stylistic hodgepodge.
Lively direction aside, it's the killer material that truly makes this movie. The fairly short running time is jam-packed with jokes and gags, almost all of which work. Rarely does a line or scene fall flat. Every seemingly unnecessary utterance is there for a reason. When Annie stares quizzically at Alvy's red, erotic light-bulb, he casually mutters that they can now go about their business...and even develop photographs if they want to. Not only do the jokes work, but they're bursting at the seams with truth and relevance. In a single split-screen scene, Allen manages to humorously capture the inherent, unavoidable differences in the male and female psyches. Racism, sexism, libido, hippies, drugs, the Seventies, entertainment bureaucrats, New York vs. California, religion, conspiracy theories. All that and more is presented uniquely in what can easily be named one of the greatest films of the last 30 years. Now if only I could decide whether or not it's better than another late-70s Allen film called Manhattan.