Woody Allen's precedent setting romantic comedy

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2003)

Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall is a story of love found and lost in New york and Los angeles. Diane Keaton plays the title character, a breezy happy go lucky midwestern girl in N.Y. who falls for Allen's character Alvie. Alvie is a stereotypical neurotic Jewish New Yorker; he sees a therapist, doesn't drive and never leaves New York. The film details the relationship between Alvie and Anie from their first encounter which portrays the two as completely incompatible. Of course that means they must fall in love. Alvie's intellectualism helps Annie to educate herself which eventualy leads her to no longer need Alvie and she pursues a singing career in L.A. Alvie tries to win her back but their time is past and the film ends on a bittersweet note. Allen was able to reinvent the romantic comedy with Annie Hall. Prior to this film Alvie and Annie wuld have ended the film in a warm kiss and fade out, but Allen has a more bittersweet world view. Some may call it pessimistic but that misses the point. Allen sees romance as not only two people together but romance is also that which tries and fails. Part of what makes romance worthwhile is the is the fantasy. Longing is a key component of love and at the end of the film Alvie's longing is what makes the film so powerful. This film set the standard by which all romantic comedies following it are measured and part of the reason is that it identifies with the melancholy that is a large part of love.