Annie Hall (1977)

Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

Directed by Woody Allen

The poster for the 50th Academy Awards

50 films! What a milestone! I know I’m barely past the halfway point of this list, but it’s exciting to reach this point.

I’m going to talk about my (not positive (#spoileralert)) opinion of this film in a moment, but let’s take a moment, as usual at the end of each decade on this list, to look back and reflect.

The 70’s, as I’ve mentioned, have taken film audiences into a darker and grittier world, pushing the boundaries (in reaction, no doubt, to television (thanks Jahan for that insight!)) of the topics portrayed in film. This past decade featured films on male prostitution, the mafia, tough cops, and mental illness wards. I can’t stand how dirty and gritty everything is, but it’s an accurate reflection of a troubled time.

Diane Keaton with her Academy Award from the 50th Academy Awards

In short, the films presented this decade are reflecting the American culture: disenfranchised, realistic, and unable to hide away all the unsightly things people didn’t want to talk about. That’s a beautiful power of cinema: the ability to hold up a mirror to society, to say, “like it or not, this is how you are”. Films that make the viewer uncomfortable are never a bad thing (well, within reason: there’s a whole sub genre of film that just wants to gross people out, and that’s not what I’m referring to here); and the best films make people analyze those uncomfortable feelings, and hopefully learn something about themselves in the process. As a whole, it was difficult for me to connect to most of these films, because I wasn’t alive for this decade, so there wasn’t as much for me to reflect on. However, we’re less than 10 years from my birth year, so I’m curious to see how these next films mesh with my memory of the times.

Now, on to Annie Hall.

Good LORD this movie was not funny. I don’t recall ever seeing any other films by Woody Allen (I think I’ve seen snippets of Match Point), and this film has definitely soured me from seeing others, especially as this is considered one of his best.

Diane Keaton as the titular Annie Hall

Before going any further, I don’t want to fault Diane Keaton in any of this: I enjoy her as an actress, and while I think her material here is awful, she does an excellent job with what she has. Basically, I want to be friends with Diane Keaton. Someone make that happen.

The fault here lies solely with Allen. This film is 90 minutes of him whining about...well, everything. How anyone sees this persona as anything other than grating is beyond me. I also love the dashes of homophobia that are thrown in (which, yes, is the time, but still).

There are some clever storytelling techniques (breaking the fourth wall to have philosopher Marshall McLuhan berate another character is pretty genius), but those moments are so few in between (or, in the case of breaking the fourth wall, too frequent), that the film seems almost directionless. Playing with time and memory is fun, so from a construction level, this film is pretty good, and definitely much better than the material it’s supporting.

Woody Allen complaining…AGAIN

Because, at the end of the day, it’s just Allen, complaining. His character has, to me, no redeeming qualities. Yes, he wants to love, like we all do, but at what cost? When someone shows an interest in him, or wants to become serious, he begins pushing them away, or making them change everything about themselves (his attitude as Annie moves in is an excellent example: he’s attentive and lovey-dovey (for Allen’s standards, anyway) beforehand, then AS she’s moving in, he’s arguing and complaining).

For a 93 minute film, this felt like it took so much longer than that. And that, to me, is the worst thing about it. I was genuinely looking forward to this film, a romantic comedy sandwiched between dark, gritty films (the next film, The Deer Hunter, is about the Vietnam War, so we all know it’s gonna be a hoot-a-minute); this film should have been a palette cleanser. While visually, it was (for the most part), this film was simply odious, and definitely crushed my hopes for it.

FINAL GRADE: D