Saturday, April 18, 2015

Annie Hall

An overanxious comedian (Woody Allen) falls for a flighty bohemian (Diane Keaton) and finds himself sabotaging their relationship. Annie Hall is probably Woody's most successful and reputed film and the foremost of his comedies, as the one-liners mostly land and the proceedings are kept fresh through a series of endless inventiveness which include animation, subtitles, inner monologue, flashbacks, cameos (Christopher Walken, Paul Simon, and Marshall McLuhan are high points) and other inspired innovations. Keaton and Allen are both excellent in career defining roles, but as good as the film is I don't think it is in league with the monuments of his later career (Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors), films that Annie Hall paved the way for.
*** 1/2 out of ****