How does one even tackle the best romantic comedy, and possibly one of the best comedies in general, ever made? I suppose at the beginning would be a good place. Woody Allen finally decided to take a step up from the slapdash comedies he was doing before and made the commitment to say what he wanted to say. It turns out that what he wanted to say was pretty damn funny. Allen writes, directs, and stars, playing the character Alvy Singer, but who should have been named Woody Allen. This man is a neurotic, paranoid, hypochondriac, intellectual, manic depressive, pessimistic, self-loathing, little Jewish comic living in New York--essentially the consummate Jewish stereotype. Allen knows who he is, his family, where he comes from, and he embraces it full force to perfect results.
It is a story about his life, and the romance that he shared with Annie Hall. What a gal. La dee dah. A ditsy, wannabe singer, crazy driver, lover of life but experiencer of none, bumbling, awkward, absolutely lovable girl, Diane Keaton plays Annie with such an easy charm. A little bit of research informs me that Keaton's actual name is Diane Hall, and her nickname is Annie. How similar the actress is to her character I do not know never having met Keaton face to face, but it is an interesting factoid. What a strange paring the two of them are, but you would never want to take your eyes away from the screen for two seconds. They are just so perfect together that it seems amazing to me that Allen could write such a couple.
The two have their ups and downs like any couple because they both have enough flaws to fill a bathtub. Alvy, for instance, has been seeing an analyst for 15 years. Annie has troubles with introductions. Their quirks and idiosyncrasies blend and rage among themselves, but at the end of the day they complete each other. This film relishes not only in the pivotal point in their relationships--the introduction at the tennis court, the first time they kiss, his proposal of marriage, the breakups--but so much of the little moments that perhaps get overlooked as being banal. One of the most famous scenes from Annie Hall takes place in a kitchen when the two of them try to cook lobster. All of their lobsters fall on the floor, and it becomes a circus trying to wrangle them into the pot. Was it necessary? No. But was it essential? Absolutely.
Apart from this there are other wonderful little bits that Allen throws in for audience amusement. Flashbacks are seen by present day Alvy, and there are moments, for instance the hilarious scene in the movie theater with Marshall McLuhan, in which Alvy addresses the audience. That scene involved taking pulling the famous communication theorist seemingly out of thin air to shut up a pedantic Columbia University professor "spitting" his opinions about Fellini all over Alvy's neck. Also, I would challenge any critic of Allen's work to watch the scene in his elementary school classroom in which the children say where they have ended up as adults, listen to the little girl say, "I'm into leather," and you tell me that this is not one of the funniest films ever made. It would never be said, unless the jokes simply went so far over that person's head that they were not even aware of them.
I feel as though this film ushered in a new form of comedic style into mainstream cinema. I can't be sure that I have come across something comparable in style before Annie Hall, and I think that that is really telling about the impact that Allen has had in the film industry. It seems that most everything that he has done has been at least 'good' if not exceptional. And because of the fact that he writes all that he directs I think that his work is taken for granted which is such a shame.
This film is an absolute cornerstone of 70's film, and a must for anyone who likes to laugh. I saw this film a few years ago and was too young to really understand the many, many references that Allen makes, and to understand the ways in which this movie excels. Watching it again seemed so fresh, and I laughed almost constantly. This is a benchmark, not only for the work from Allen--which he has been able to touch a couple of other times--but for comedy writers in general. There will be few people able to contend with something like this, as a Woody Allen or Mel Brooks comes along...well, very rarely, so that when thinking about Allen's work, both old and new, recognize the fact that he really changed the rules of the game. That is something to be inspired by and to cherish.
4/4
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