User reviews

`Annie Hall', long thought to be Woody Allen's opus, is perhaps a perfect romantic comedy because it not only shows the happy, touching moments of relationships, but also displays the reality of coupling – the occasional waning of interest in one another, the hypercritical moments, etc. It is absolutely brilliantly written; Woody Allen exhibits his usual dry humor and self-deprecation, but also his sensitive, passionate and romantic side. It was because of this film that I fell in love with Woody Allen at the age of twelve (take your cheap shot here) and almost twenty years later he still is that intellectual, bookish and humorous ideal. Diane Keaton was his muse and co-star for this film, and they are perfect counterparts – so much so that their interaction onscreen doesn't seem like viewing two actors in a film, but is a much more voyeuristic experience. Watching `Annie Hall' is like sitting at a bistro table and observing another couple a few tables away, and that is just one of the elements that make this film so endearing. Most people can relate to at least some aspects of Alvy and Annie's relationship, which helps make this film a timeless one.

However, `Annie Hall' is not just a good romantic comedy; it is a film that engages some unusual storytelling techniques. Actors speak directly to the audience, characters interact with strangers on the street who just happen to know the answers to the personal questions posed, there is a brief animation scene, etc. While none of these approaches were new in 1977, their execution was inspired. `Annie Hall' is like a fond memory, or a favorite old song – anytime I have discussed this film with others their smiling expressions are usually tinged with a hint of nostalgia, because one can look back on either their past or current relationship and do what precious few films allow us to do – relate on a personal level.

--Shelly

Woody Allen's seminal 1977 romantic comedy "Annie Hall" is not only laugh-out-loud funny (with some of the most quotable dialogue ever written for the screen...this is the "Casablanca" of comedies, folks) but also sweet and charming (due in large part because of Diane Keaton's smashing performance as the title character, the flighty singer from Wisconsin with a quirky fashion sense and "neat" outlook on life) without ever turning trite or sappy like so many romantic comedies tend to do. Allen wisely deconstructed the genre with his non-linear story-line (something that was later done to even greater effect with a more recent and profound look at relationships, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" ) and charming little theatrical tricks like talking to the audience or pulling extras into the scene for their opinions on what's been going on. It keeps the viewer off guard and allows for a free flow of comedic and philosophical ideas that might otherwise not have found their way into a more traditional film.

In his latter years, Allen's best work has been when he is not part of the cast (my personal favorites being "Bulletts over Broadway," "Sweet and Lowdown," and the recent "Match Point" ). "Annie Hall" was made in his heyday when he could still pull off playing a neurotic New York Jewish comedienne with charm and panache. There's something innocent and benign about his obsessions here, as this was long before the Woody/Soon-Yi fiasco and the days of grossly miscasting himself against younger female co-stars. Yes, Mr. Allen has been artsier (witness "Manhattan" ) and more satirical (witness "Zelig" ) but here, with Diane Keaton as his muse, he was never more charming or funnier.

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is something of a hopeless romantic. A cynical, death-obsessed New York Jewish comedian, Singer has never been able to maintain a steady relationship with a woman. He has been married twice, and divorced twice. He broke up with one woman because of their disagreements over the "second shooter" conspiracy of John F. Kennedy's assassination, or perhaps that was just his excuse. To paraphrase Freud, possibly Groucho Marx, he simply "would never want to belong to any club that would accept someone like him for a member." He doesn't drive because he is paranoid about driving; he has been seeing a psychiatrist for the past fifteen years, though these appointments were long ago reduced to simple "whining" sessions. There is an inherent uncertainty in everything that Singer says – as though he really knows what he's talking about, but he can't convince himself that he's got it right.

When he accompanies a friend (Tony Roberts) to a tennis game, Singer's first and foremost concern is that the club will deny him entry because he's a Jew. However, that fateful game serves forth something so much more significant and life-changing – he comes to meet the ditsy and exuberant Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Despite clearly having very little in common, something clicks between the two eligibles, and they embark on a tumultuous years-long relationship that will inevitably fail to materialise into anything further. Erupting with clever dialogue and witty cultural references, 'Annie Hall's' script is one of the best you'll ever see. Not only is the conversation entertaining to listen to, but – even with all the talking to the camera and interacting with random extras – it actually manages to seem startlingly realistic. This is no small thanks, of course, to the main actors, who embody their characters so perfectly that we're unsure if they are acting or merely playing themselves.

Though he had previously released a few well-received, light-hearted affairs, it was 'Annie Hall' that blasted writer/actor/director Woody Allen into the realms of super-stardom. In an uncharacteristic move for the Academy, Allen's film won four 1978 Oscars, including Best Actress (Keaton), Best Original Screenplay (Allen, Marshall Brickman), Best Director (Allen) and Best Picture – not undeservedly, though millions of 'Star Wars' fans would, I'm sure, disagree. Having revisited 'Annie Hall' for the first time in a year, having since enjoyed many of Allen's other films, I am genuinely amazed at his transition from silly comedian to insightful observer on human relationships. Of course, a noticeable evolution in his film-making style is evident in both the science-fiction 'Sleeper (1973)' and the Russian historical spoof 'Love and Death (1975),' but neither boasts the the intelligence nor the sophistication of this film, which wholly discards the Chaplin-like slapstick of Allen's previous films and adopts the Tracy-Hepburn screwball comedy of a decade later.

Originally slated – and filmed, in fact – as a New York murder mystery with a romantic sub-plot, 'Annie Hall' was taken by editor Ralph Rosenbaum and cut down (massacred, if you will) into the modern, witty 1970s screwball comedy that we still enjoy today. It is truly amazing that such an extensive post-production reshaping had no obvious ill effects upon the general flow of the film, though the structure in itself is so hectic that we probably wouldn't notice it, anyway: Allen frequently cuts forwards and backwards in time, his modern characters are able to revisit and discuss the past, characters in split screens interact, Allen regularly breaks the "fourth wall" and addresses the audience directly. Some of the discarded murder mystery elements from 'Annie Hall' were later incorporated into another Allen film, 'Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993),' which also co-starred Keaton.

Aside from Allen and Keaton, numerous smaller roles provide a crucial framework for the overall structure of the film. Tony Roberts is Rob, Singer's old friend and confidant. Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel) plays a record producer who takes a keen interest in both Annie and her singing. Shelley Duvall is a reporter for 'The Rolling Stone' magazine, and a one-time girlfriend of Singer. There are also tiny early roles for Christopher Walken (as Annie's somewhat disturbed brother), Jeff Goldblum (who speaks one memorable line at a party – "Hello? I forgot my mantra" ) and Sigourney Weaver (who can be briefly glimpsed as Singer's date outside a theatre). Two slightly more unusual cameos come from Truman Capote (as a Truman Capote-lookalike, no less) and scholar Marshall McLuhan (whom Singer suddenly procures from behind a movie poster to declare to a talkative film-goer that "you know nothing of my work!" ).

Easily the most innovative and energetic of the films I've so far seen from Woody Allen, 'Annie Hall' is a spirited glimpse at the incompatibility of human beings, and a cynical yet bittersweet meditation on the falsity of the perfect romantic Hollywood ending. It is also a considerable comedic achievement, and Allen would repeatedly recycle his trademark neurotic New Yorker screen persona, most notably in 'Manhattan (1979),' but never with more success than this premium outing in excellence. The engagingly-convoluted storyline moves with such briskness that you don't realise just how very little happens, and that, by the film's end, our characters are exactly where they were at the beginning. Nevertheless, Allen manages to say something significant about human relationships – they're totally irrational, crazy and absurd, but we keep attempting them because of what they give us in return. Or, at least, what we think they give us.

The film that bested Star Wars for the 1977 Best Picture Oscar, Annie Hall is a remarkable achievement in filmmaking that transcends its simple, romantic premise to create a stunning portrait of not only 70's pop culture, but of human nature cumulative. Directed and co-written by Woody Allen, who has since directed other gems such as Hannah and Her Sisters and The Purple Rose of Cairo, Annie Hall also stars Allen as Alvy Singer, a neurotic, death-obsessed comedian who seems unlucky in love and life. That is until he meets Annie, brilliantly played by Diane Keaton, who is beautiful, fashion-savvy, carefree (she likes using expressions like `la di da'), and a terrible driver.

Annie and Alvy's relationship is an unlikely one. She's a Midwestern girl, straight out of white-bread Wisconsin; he's a life-long New York Jew who grew up (literally) under the Coney Island roller coaster. He's been seeing a therapist for the past 16 years; she only `needs' one once she meets him. She's an extroverted aspiring singer; he's an introverted, world-despising imp. Yet Allen and Keaton are so perfect in their roles, they improbably make this couple one of the most memorable ever.

The plot revolves around Alvy's chronicles of loves lost and a retrospective on his relationship with Annie, with whom he has since parted ways. At the end of the film, we see Alvy try his hand at stage-writing-he writes a play about his relationship with Annie, but gives it a happy ending. Yes, Annie and Alvy don't have a fairy tale ending to their relationship, but Alvy certainly wishes they had, even though he learns to live with the acknowledgment it has failed.

The best part of Annie Hall is its incredible screenplay-the best ever to be written. Not a word is wasted nor a line unquotable. Except here, while Allen's early films had thrived on streams of one-liners, Allen doesn't go for cheap laughs-each line is simultaneously hilarious and poignant. Everything is part of a greater whole. We laugh because it's funny, but there's a greater dynamic at work in Annie Hall. This is a story not exclusively about a relationship between two people, but also a musing on 70's politics, drugs, East Coast/West Coast rivalry, narcissism, religion, celebrity, and several other topics with which Allen deals with extraordinary ease.

Yet Annie Hall would not be among my favorite films of all-time if it were just Woody Allen ranting and raving about what he likes and dislikes. There are other Allen films that serve that purpose, i.e. Deconstructing Harry, and they're not nearly as good. What separates Annie Hall is its grace, the believable chemistry between Keaton and Allen, the unique direction (ranging from split-screens to cartoon imagery to on-screen subtitles of what the actors are thinking), but mostly because it's the rare film to find a perfect balance between sheer entertainment, humor, and poignancy.

When the dust had settled, Diane Keaton deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance, Allen took home Oscars for direction and writing, and the film beat out Star Wars for Best Picture, which most people consider a complete sham. Evidently, those people didn't see Annie Hall, for if they had, they'd recognize that the acting, writing, and even the direction in Star Wars can't hold a candle to Annie Hall, one of the best films ever made.

10/10

Woody Allen's masterpiece will always be "Annie Hall." What is most remarkable today about this film is the way Allen presents it. It's a movie about a relationship. But rather than taking a linear approach, Allen plays with time. We see the middle, the begining, and the end. And not always in that order. Allen also breaks the fourth wall a lot and has many dream sequences and asides which add to the complexity of the characters. This is a highly autobiographical film and Allen pulls no punches. This movie is not about romance in the way that "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is. Rather, "Annie Hall" is a deconstruction of a romance. At times it is funny and heartbreaking and always classic. "Love fades," indeed.

Annie Hall is a movie about life. In recent films, there are fairly predictable endings. (i.e. guy gets girl after chase scene in Manhattan). Annie Hall goes against the grain of movies. There is definite chemistry between Allen and Keaton. That is one of the main reasons this movie is successful. Alvy and Annie do not have high wage jobs, they do not go clubbing, nor are they incredibly attractive. Why does a movie character relationship have to be so extreme it's unconvincing? These days movie producers create plots that are unbelievable. They don't have any depth and usually have shallow intentions. You can sense that the two leads care for each other. The situations in this movie resemble real life and that is why it is so critically acclaimed and remembered. Sure Woody talked into the camera, but that, in a sense is real life as well. It reminds me of my usual thought process and how when I think; I feel as though I'm presenting my thoughts to myself. Only he is, presenting it to us. This movie is clever and thought provoking. If you're looking for the opposite of a yearly run of the mill movie, this is for you.

If this is considered Allen's magnum opus...I'm just not sure where to go from here...because whereas I can dig this style of anti-romantic comedy...it's his particular brand of humour that just doesn't do it for me.

With that being said, I fully appreciate the structure of the film.

The connection and transitions between vignettes, the breaking of the the fourth wall (by addressing the audience through the camera), the creative use of subtitles (that provide us a glimpse into the underlying thoughts of the characters while they have a conversation where they otherwise pander to each other's expectations)...all very clever.

I also love all the movie and literary references he manages to weave in.

And all the locations- from both New York and LA- that he incorporates into the film.

But his brand of humour just doesn't swing it for me.

It just comes off as bland and unrewarding, and leaves me unfulfilled.

But, perhaps, that is what he was going for...awkward humour, from an awkward man, making an awkward picture, about his awkward relationships.

Am i just missing the brilliance?

Probably.

But I can't help but feel how I feel about it.

I will admit, I was entertained by the film itself, even if the characters- and their sense of humour- turned me off.

So maybe I shouldn't throw Allen under the bus (despite the criticisms that society has directed at him since), without giving some of his other films a shot.

I will probably, at least, watch Bananas, Sleeper, and Manhattan going forward.

But I will certainly be going into those with much lower expectations than I had here.

Because, despite it's reputation as "the best New York based romantic comedy ever made" (Breakfast At Tiffany's is better, in my opinion)...I don't understand how it won 4 oscars (perhaps it was a slow year...).

It's certainly not a bad film, by any metric...it's just not my kind of film.

But maybe it's one of those things that has to grow on you, over time (despite Allen clearly having the opposite effect on every woman he's ever met).

6 out of 10.

Another world according to Woody, with some especially acute observations and witticisms about almost everything, but always with an exceptionally pessimistic pass. Flows fluently from beginning to end, seldom comes up for air and leaves us with an overflowing half full glass of confusion, misery and despair but always with perspective and a few chuckles.

Woody Allen's masterpiece with favorite co-star Diane Keaton has Allen casting himself as New York born comedian Alvy Singer and his relationship with Keaton in the title role. Annie Hall is one of those films you can watch four or five times and pick up a bit of humor and/or philosophy that you missed the first time.

Allen is playing himself in Annie Hall, a successful comedian who spends most of his time psychoanalyzing himself and all around him. He can't make any relationship permanent.

Along comes Keaton and it looks like this is the one, but there's always pitfalls when you deal with a walking neurosis like Allen.

Both Woody and Diane fit so naturally in their parts you think you are peeking in on a home movie. Annie Hall won for Best Picture, Best Actress for Diane Keaton, and Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Woody Allen. Best in the supporting cast is Tony Roberts as Allen's sidekick actor buddy.

This really is a timeless classic. It's humor has no temporal limits. Annie Hall can be made today with the same script and you wouldn't lose a scintilla of humor.

I can keep my review tthis movie short. A bit of romance and comedy make a 90 minutes long solid movie. But there is literally nothing exceptional. That's it go and watch it if you are interested.

Oh, wait! It has won 4 Acadamy Awards?! Including best picture?! In a year in which the most influential movie of all time came out?!!! This is too much for me. I mean you can like this movie, love it, but every human with a functioning brain knows that Star Wars revolutionized not just moviemaking but the entire entertainment industry. Until today the influence this movie has can be seen. And they gave Best Picture to this garbage. You need a prove that humanity has failed? Here you are!!!

Woody is an intelligent man who worries about the issues of film-making. The primary concern, the very first problem, is always to decide what the relationships are among the audience, the camera, the narrator if any, and the characters.

Woody was on his way to making a murder mystery, which is the purest form of messing about with these relationships. In a much studied decision, they decided to cut out all the mystery and just focus on the context. In this case, that context is a richly layered evocation of a relationship. I really wish I could see the original film to discover the mysteries Woody intended to hide in the folds.

And the folds are as numerous and complex as they can get. We have a framing device where Woody speaks to us partly as a conversation which blends into a standup, which is mirrored as a part of the story. We have timeshifting where we move back and forth in time in a simple 'Tarantino' way; but we go way past: characters from the 'present' enter the past as Dickensian ghosts, then they talk to characters in the past. we have characters in different pasts talking to each other via split screen. We have a layering of Woody and Diane's relationship in real life, then the film, then TWO films within: a play which is part of the action and a cartoon which is the action itself.

More: we have Woody talking to the audience as if we were shifted into the play -- early in that play we are introduced to Bergman and Fellini: in both cases while they are waiting outside. These are the two inventors of folded narrative. Even more: while some bozo perfessor spouts off about Fellini and McLuhan, Woody enlists the audience to challenge him and drags out McLuhan himself! The joke of course is that McLuhan himself was a vapid weaver of lowbrow theories.

And more and more with the constant weaving of 'analysis' and other film-like activities: singers, photographers, TeeVee stars, models...

This period was when he was first exposed to Wallace Shawn who was hanging out with Terrence Malick, two other innovators in narrative folding. All the 'New Yorker' stuff means more when you know Shawn's father was the long-time editor of that publication and defined the self-absorbed reflection that characterizes the city and this film.

Keaton's manner was essential to pulling this off, someone who could pull off the story about her uncle dying while waiting for a Turkey. Watch her.. she is clued in to simultaneously being in herself (Keaton), herself (Hall), inside the story she is telling and inside the story Woody is telling. She shifts and guffaws just as if she were stoned and moving among realities, just as her character.

Just amazing and intelligent. Will we ever see this the way it was written and shot? Or is that mystery too intelligent for us, who prefer to think of this as a funny, endearing love story.

Okay, Woody Allen could be annoying sometimes and is heavily neurotic even in this film which he wrote and directed. The film is somewhat autobiographical about his relationships with a WASP woman named Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton in her Oscar winning role. Woody plays himself in the film even with a different name. Even though it's a short film, the story moves quickly and you have to be alert for some of the humor about the relationship between men and women. The supporting cast includes Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Carol Kane and others. Woody's hatred of Los Angeles and all things Californian is well-known and documented. He is out of touch when he is away from New York City where he is equally neurotic. As a couple at first, Woody and Annie get along great but slowly Woody's own negativity creeps into the relationship. Annie starts seeing a therapist and their relationship unravels. When Annie's promising career as a cabaret singer rises, Woody becomes threatened and goes to Los Angeles to bring her back.

Not everybody will love Woody Allen's humour, some will find him interesting and sharply insightful while others will find him self-indulgent. With me, it veers very largely towards the former with some occasions where the latter does creep in. Annie Hall is one of his best films, a masterpiece and one of the better Best Picture winners of the 70s with only the two Godfather films even better. The best assets are the script and the chemistry between the two leads. The script is enormously witty, with cracking dialogue that induces one and at times more laughs a minute, and full of insightful observations. People have deemed it one of the best screenplays of all time, and from personal perspective there is no reason to argue. The chemistry between the two leads, running somewhat on a parallel between the relationship of Woody Allen and Diane Keaton itself, and the actors in general actually is throughout very believable. It is often adorable and often dynamic. It helps that Diane Keaton gives one of her best and most endearing performances, and while Alvy is not a particularly likable or sympathetic character Woody Allen is similarly great, his looking into the camera and breaking the fourth wall moments were funny. The supporting cast all give spirited performances, especially Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Carol Kane and Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum is memorable as well for one of the film's best and most quotable lines. The romance is sweet and relateable, the ending for me was really moving, but the story doesn't depend on that alone, Allen also muses over topics that were relevant then and that we can see as relevant today as well, he does so in a very thoughtful way. Allen directs with assurance, and while there have been more visually audacious Woody Allen films since Annie Hall it is still cleverly made with the way it's shot, the cartoon images and how we're shown visually what the characters are thinking. There is no music score and in this case that was a good idea, there was more leeway for the relationship between the two lead characters and observations to speak, and that's the same for the deliberate but never tedious pacing. Overall, an outstanding film, one of Allen's best and one of the greatest films of the 70s. People may dislike it for it winning Best Picture over Star Wars(this viewers and many others however think it fully deserved the win), as much as I'll have a fondness for the Star Wars original trilogy and consider it a milestone of its genre it is easy to see out of Star Wars and Annie Hall which is the superior film. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Woody Allen is one of the greatest film maker's of all time, his movies are written perfect and he does comedy perfect.This is not my favorite Woody Allen movie, but i do like it a lot and i love how he does this movie.It is drama with comedy, and scenes in new york and the same music in all his movies, Woody Allen dosen't like to change.But i think he has something perfect, i wouldn't change it either and one thing good about Annie hall is woody.Him acting the way he does and talking to the camera is perfect, this man makes the movie with Dian Keaton doing a great job as well.Her roles in a lot of his movies are always excellent, this was Woody Allen's first big Oscar winning movie and is still considered his best work.If you like Woody Allen, then this film is just for you and i think it is a good couple movie that you can watch with a wife and girlfriend.The great Woody does it again with Annie Hall.

I know i am seeing this movie 30 years later but it was really boring. Woody Allen's sense of humor is good but gets really annoying.

Some of the jokes in the movie are really pathetic.It was a pain to sit through the movie with only the background score being quite good. Diane Keaton has given a decent performance but nothing path breaking.

Another major disappointment were the supporting cast who were terrible. Really don't understand why this is a classic when it is only a single man's opinion.

PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE LOOKING AT THE RATINGS.. u will be certainly shocked..

Rating 6/10 ( being very generous)

Who hasn't stood in line in front of a foolishly pontificating ill-informed blow hard and wished for a large sock with manure in it? Who hasn't fallen in love with someone only to wonder why that person would fall in love with the likes of you? Who hasn't loved someone so much, just as they are, that you wanted to change them to make them perfect? Who hasn't - as an analogy - treated the end of love like a coward treats a machine gun nest, rushing into the line of fire just to get it over with?

Yes, this is Allen's best film, because it is Allen's most universal. You do not have to be a New York Jewish intellectual undergoing psychoanalysis three times a day for this movie to resonate with you. You simply need to do what we all do: love not wisely, but too well. This movie is a benchmark for Allen; moving away from his earlier, "funny" movies to his more serious stuff. It hasn't always been a smooth transition, and many of his later movies ignore that what Allen does best is be funny - only Crimes and Misdemeanors, of his later films, works without being consistently funny. But here, as in Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan, Woody Allen mixes his seriousness of purpose and humor expertly.

I understand that Woody Allen has a huge reputation in the movie industry, but I couldn't find myself to like his work or his style. I'm not saying what he did in this movie was terrible, it was actually wonderful. The angle shots were on point, the camera panning in and out, and going from one scene to another was also pretty impressive. Even the dialogue that he shared between his co-star was witty and face paced to keep you entertained. I just couldn't get myself to like Woody Allen's character. It didn't interest me, and it didn't make me laugh. Finding it hard to like his character made it hard for me to appreciate this movie. The movie was well thought out though. The plot was interesting, the characters had their own personality, and you could feel that spark that lied between the two main characters. This just wasn't the movie for me.

I teach Interpersonal Communication to Honors students with SAT scores that average over 1400 and conclude the course by showing "Annie Hall." There are few course topics that are not illustrated by this brilliant film, and in a way that keep the student's interest. Students are mesmerized by the innovative film-making technique of showing the linear transformation of a relationship in a non-linear collage, writing that is so clever and well acted that one forgets you are watching staged interactions, humor that is so sharp if you blink you will miss a joke, and genuine poignancy that always brings tears to my eyes at the end.

I simply do not know how "Annie Hall" could be a better movie. I seldom agree with Best Picture Awards but in this instance the Academy nailed it.

I'm not a big Woody Allen fan and not fond of many of his films. He has produced some clunkers. But when he's at his best, no one in this genre is even close. "Annie Hall" is arguably Allen's best work.

People love 'Annie Hall'. They rave about it and regularly claim it's the most influential film on their lives.

So I watched it. And I can't say it did much for me. Sorry.

I think it's mainly down to the fact that I found Woody Allen's character annoying. Yes, it was endearing for a bit, but over the course of the film I lost patience with him and his neurotic behaviour.

At times it felt more like a collection of sketches rather than a film, with some being funny, and others not.

My review is largely pointless, I know. Those that love 'Annie Hall' will continue to watch it and get others to do so too. But for me 'Annie Hall' is a tad overrated.