This is a little
bit tricky with a Woody Allen movie since in most of his movies he likes to
write, direct, and be in front of the camera in the lead role. In Annie Hall his character is comedian
Alvy Singer, a prototypical New Yorker as in many of Allen’s movies. He is also
a very neurotic man who in this case is neurotically going over his failed relationship
with the titular Annie Hall played by long-time Woody Allen co-star Diane
Keaton. As they have worked together many times Allen and Keaton have great
chemistry together, which is one of the reasons why the movie works so well.
Another reason is
that the jokes work on many levels, sometime intellectual, sometimes physical.
Early on Alvy is waiting in line for a movie and hears someone deriding the
work of philosopher Marshall McLuhan. Alvy defends McLuhan and then, surprise,
the philosopher himself is in line to defend his work. Since McLuhan is
Canadian and his work was part of the curriculum when I was taking university
courses, I really appreciated that cameo. As for the physical comedy, try not
to laugh at the sight of Alvy driving during a trip in California. Apparently
some New Yorkers, at least in Alvy’s case, spend so much time using public
transit that when they get behind the wheel they become a menace to society.
Alvy and Annie work
great together, at least in the beginning. Eventually problems emerge which
lead to a breakup, a reconciliation, and then another breakup. Throughout the
ups and downs of the relationship Allen and co-writer Marshall Brickman also
try to show the relationship from Annie’s point of view, which highlights how
complicated these things can be. The man might think they are not having enough
sex, while the woman might think they could take things down a notch. It’s also
a problem if they are telling those things to their therapists and not each
other.
Therapy is of
course another hallmark of Allen’s film, and in Annie Hall it often feels as though the audience is filling in as
Alvy’s therapist as he goes over not just his relationship with Annie, but his
life story as well. This raises the question as to whether or not the movie is
even funnier for therapists or people who have studied psychoanalysis, but the
average audience member can still have plenty of fun watching Alvy respond to
an emergency call at Annie’s apartment at 3 am. It turns out the emergency is a
spider the size of a Buick.
The writing in Annie Hall is some of the funniest Allen
has ever written, it has interesting things to say about relationships, and the
cast includes heavyweights such as Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, and
Sigourney Weaver in her film debut. It is definitely a must-watch for fans of
classic comedies and clever writing, but nowadays it is very difficult to watch
it without thinking about the personal life of the man who made this masterpiece.
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