"Can I ask you? Is this a sandwich?"

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2016)

Woody Allen's professional integrity has held fast for over a quarter century. Commercial concerns have never deterred the artist from pushing through on a particular idea or project. It is well known that over the many years of filmmaking, he created an insular production company and connected himself to people (producers) who would accept any film proposal on face value - sometimes merely on the bases of one telephone conversation. This is not just a good film but a great film. Every scene has at least three to four gags that seem to never grow stale. When Alvie Singer (Woody Allen) meets Annie for the first time, she's obviously quite nervous and fills the pregnant silences with "La ti da, la ti da..." He says, "I'm dating a woman who says, "La ti da". This reminded me of Seinfeld's famous, "Yada yada yada..." In and around all this, the film tells the story of a mismatched relationship between neurotic, intellectual New Yorker Alvy and Wisconsin transplant Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, in an excellent performance). The details of the relationship are delineated with aching realism: the tentative getting-to-know-you stage, the petulant break-ups, the warm making-ups, the mundanities (like getting rid of spiders in bathtubs), the arguments, the hilarious private moments that can't be repeated with anyone else (like their attempt to cook some lobsters), the boredom, and finally the wearing-out of the whole thing. This is all superbly done.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10.