Annie Hall

Audience Reviews

View More

Anakin M Apr 24, 2019 Considering Woody Allen's popularity with the Academy I was surprised to find he had directed only one Best Picture winner but fortunately it's one of his best, equaling Interiors (1978), Manhattan (1979) and Hannah And Her Sisters (1986). The screenplay is funny, romantic and melancholy and it traces a believable relationship that doesn't end in happily ever after but if you'd been watching from the beginning you would see that's not how things are going to finish up. Allen sets out to defy convention and write and perform a really smart romantic comedy, one that explores questions about love deeply instead of brushing over them and then concluding by saying that if you aren't in love it's a problem with you and not humanity itself. I was really glad that this was as good as I had remembered and it still lit a flame in the romantic in me that very much had a stake in this relationship. My one reservation is my general hatred of Diane Keaton as she has taken the role she plays here and replicated it in every other performance she has ever given but her â~talents' are used best here and although she absolutely should not be a Best Actress winner she is tolerable here. Woody, Woody Allen, is a neurotic man who struggles in his love life but his interest is piqued when he meets the quirky Annie Hall, Diane Keaton. They quickly fall in love but they face many problems in their relationship and they often deal with these problems in impractical but funny ways. Annie moves out to L.A. where she befriends Paul Simon to pursue her dream of being a singer and Woody is unable to smother his idiosyncratic behavior. Their relationship collapses but not before he meets her crazy brother Duane, Christopher Walken, and has a one night stand with a young Shelley Duvall. There are several memorable sequences in the film, when they have a conversation while text indicates what they are really thinking, when Annie refuses to stop smoking pot before they have sex and the famous Coney Island sequence. They are all quirky and delightful in that odd Woody Allen way where they are a few steps away from being irksome but hit that sweet spot of being both clever and funny. There are odd surreal jokes present in the film too as we see the director of The Sorrow and the Pity () brought into an argument between Annie and Woody at the movie theatre. The mix of different genres of comedy doesn't make the film feel all over the place or an like an odd mix of various interesting elements that doesn't quite work but it instead allows you to keep engaged as you marvel at Allen's storytelling ability. There is none of the smarm of Allen's later work present here as his jokes are self-aware without feeling smug or pretentious and you laugh throughout. Allen and Keaton give very good performances in the lead roles as semi-autobiographical characters. Allen is as neurotic as ever as he struggles to understand the aspects of life that we all do buried beneath the surface but he takes his musings to such ridiculous extremes that they become absurd. His iconic image, a little man in thick-rimmed black glasses usually wearing a formal white short and black dress pants is on display here as he cements his iconography. Keaton is usual ditzy self but the film is aware of that and uses her persona to play off Allen's opposing neuroses displaying a really beautiful chemistry. No, she didn't equal either Anne Bancroft or Shirley MacLaine in the exquisite The Turning Point (1977) and I'm still mad that both of those actresses have only one Academy award therefore I will always feel ill will towards this performance but on it's own it's very good. This is one of those films that you must see regardless of whether you love or hate Allen and Keaton or the romantic comedy genre as a whole, it's a film that transcends all that and becomes a seminal film altogether. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but also came away feeling quite emotional and I am glad that this was rewarded instead of one of Allen's lesser 1990s films. See more

Apr 21, 2019 A little postmodern. A little exaggerated. A little unfunny. A little neurotic. Perhaps, boring.

Mar 7, 2019 This movie was actually really entertainig, despite other reviews. The story itself didn`t have a meaning, but why would a movie need to have a meaning? It tells something, and, for me, that`s arleady enough. I loved how the main characters discussed life and how eccentric their point of views about everything were displayed! See more

Draco P Mar 1, 2019 This film had some fantastic, off-the-cuff style acting and it was very entertaining to watch. The scene transitions are great, and Alvy's thoughts coming to life are awesome additions to the film. The sad thing about the plot of the film is seeing two people, even fictional ones, gravitating to all of the things that don't matter in a relationship, declaring the relationship dead and then moving on with their lives when happiness is clearly only to be found with each other. I would have rated the film a four, but I caught myself constantly looking at the run time to see when it would end because it had a number of parts that dragged a lot. The comedy is mostly pretty funny, Allen's performance as a neurotic comedian is a real treat to watch and despite it's problems this is overall a good movie (Oh, and there is a cameo by really young Jeff Goldblum!). See more

Hermione G Feb 24, 2019 This is peak Woody Allen. You will like this as much as you like Woody Allen. I am not a big fan, but he is entertaining, and that's how I felt about this movie. See more

George R Feb 10, 2019 Such an unconventional love story. This movie was super funny, pretty deep and really entertaining! I honestly can hope I fall in and out of love like this. See more

Read all reviews

Annie Hall

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING