lovable film  but of course, "love" is too weak a word for what I feel. I luff this film.

Rating: 7/10 (8 April 2006)

Annie Hall happens to be one of those strange little films that can tell its story in a jagged way but audiences will still feel satisfied and most importantly, know what's going on. Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is a neurotic Jewish comedian who is short on romance. He chronicles his relationship with a ditzy and fairly neurotic girlfriend, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The film starts in the middle of their relationship, showing how similar Alvy and Annie are and at the same time how different they are. Alvy loves New York, as Annie wants something more, seeing that she wants a singing career.
Allen, who co-written and directed the film, uses film like it was never used before. His character, Alvy, often talks to the camera, imagines a scene that may include animation, text on the screen that show what the characters are thinking, split screens, walking through a certain scene from the past and not really having the thoughts go in a certain coherent fashion. But that is when his originality shines. He is able to mix all his ideas plus constant dialogue. I don't really remember a scene where there is a huge moment where the characters aren't interacting to each other or muttering because this is something that film really needs today. I think there are too many films where the characters just give so-called meaningful glares at each other  talking is what people do and Allen emphasizes that into his script perfectly.
The performances are a great breath of fresh air. Woody Allen, who is very much underrated as an actor is really good here. His character has the most lines and he really transforms into this character. If Allen is really like this, I don't know. One of my favorite actresses, Diane Keaton, is what we are missing from actresses today. She has versatility that is really hard to find and she shows how her resume can span from The Godfather to Annie Hall. Personally, I think Keaton has more versatility than Johnny Depp. So why did Star Wars lost Best Picture in 1978? Because Annie Hall simply had better performances, a greater insight of late-1970s relationships, and made every single scene quite memorable if not meaningful.
One thing people must know is that I absolutely hate romantic-comedies. Watching a romantic comedy to me is like burning myself alive in the fire. But I rather enjoyed this story  it was nice, sweet, and surprisingly likable. I like how it was not told in the traditional form of how other films usually have done it. I like the addition to the split screens, the animation sequence, the "talking to the camera," etc. Even though this film has those "wtf?" moments, I still happened to like it very much (yes, I loave it). Those are the tiny delights that are rare in today's film-making society.