Annie Hall (1977) - Review
Originally published November 2015Annie Hall is an example of a film that made me want to create another segment on this website called "That's It?" It would be for movies that have been built up in my mind due to the overwhelming praise or a cult following they have received, and that, despite my best efforts to temper my expectations, manage only to disappoint me immensely. I didn't watch enough of Annie Hall to tell you everything that may be right or wrong with it; all I know is that I was disappointed by it.
Yes indeed, I was turned off by it almost immediately and barely made it to the halfway point before I stopped watching. Annie Hall won the Best Picture Oscar of its year and has been praised as an outstanding achievement in filmmaking with a script that is regarded as near-perfect.
All those details do not help me accept the irritating behavior, speech, and attitude of Woody Allen's character, whom I'm pretty sure is just Woody Allen. It's the same character he always plays in his movies, so I don't think he can actually act. He's just such a character on his own that he gets away with it most of the time, but not here with me!
Image: United Artists | Their faces matched my mood while I watched this film
Pros
The scene where he's in a movie line is mildly funny.
I laughed at the irony of the scene with Allen in a classroom, hitting on children, considering the real-life events of his life.
Cons
If you don't "care for" / "get" whatever it is Allen is going for, you're in for an irritating experience.
Jumps around in time and place abruptly, forcing me to pay more attention than I want to in order to follow along.
Does not stand up to the test of time well enough to captivate audiences from a different and much later generation.
I'm not sure if this is the first Rom-Com to use the manic-pixie girl archetype, but if you've seen any movie with those already, you've seen most of what Annie Hall has to offer.
Jokes fell flat for me.
Could not get past the annoyances of the protagonist.
Plot & Thoughts
There were a couple of other reviews Meghan and I read of Annie Hall to see if we were alone in our irritation (thankfully not), and a word that kept popping up to describe him was "neurotic." It's a vague word, I don't care; it just feels like a lazy descriptor. However, it may nonetheless help you understand what you're in for. If Allen's character is the definition of neurotic, I will have to stay away from movies that have those types of protagonists, because it will only earn negative points in my book.
Allen's character is whiny and self-absorbed like a spoiled 6-year-old, which immediately makes me less interested in his story or issues. Maybe his character is more empathetic to people who like children. I don't know. I can deal with characters who have their demons and who are pieces of societal trash, as long as there is something interesting about them or their story. However, I can't deal with someone who is constantly miserable for no reason other than he's a spoiled brat; I don't want a 90-minute film of an episode of My Sweet 16.
Image: United Artists
I'm told that, in the end, he has a revelation, is humbled, and that, of course, the girl of his dreams, Annie Hall, has something to do with the transformation. This is no surprise to me, as the FOIL character should be involved in the protagonist's transformation; that's basic storytelling. So, forcing me to watch something for 1.5 hours before I see any humility or redemption of a person whom I immediately hate is a lot to ask.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
There are plenty of other things I could say about this film, but much of that has already been said in the negative reviews about it on IMDB. Since I didn't watch the whole thing, I don't feel like I know enough to go into detail about much else, either. All I know is that for a "timeless classic," there are far too many references to the decade it's from to make it timeless. I will openly admit I don't get it and that my chances of understanding it would have likely been helped immensely if I had grown up in the ‘70s. Alas, I'm an ‘80s child, so the humor and the problems of Allen's character remain untranslated.