Movie Monday: Annie Hall

One of the great, groundbreaking comedies of all time, Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" was the masterpiece of his own brand of comedy.

Written, directed and starring Allen in 1977, "Annie Hall" took home Oscars in almost all the top categories--Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Screenplay (written for the screen). Allen was nominated for Best Actor but was beat out by Richard Dreyfuss.

"Annie Hall" is really the quintessential Woody Allen film, marked by his mumbling, awkward and neurotic comedic style and teleplay that often escapes the narrative and attempts to form a relationship with the viewer.

Just as Chaplin did decades before, Allen wrote for and directed himself in his most successful films, knowing full well that nobody could play the stuttering, intellectual yet uncomfortable Jew as well as he can.

"Annie Hall" follows the life of Alvy Singer (Allen), his failed relationship with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) and the influences of his life that lead to that failure, which are strangely believable.

As the movie opens, Alvy gives a short monologue to the audience saying that his problem with women is defined by an old Groucho Marx quote. The way Alvy says it: "I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member. That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women."

The ability to artfully leave the story and communicate with the audience is not easy to master or perfect. It's difficult enough to make a large group of people laugh at the situation in the movie, but removing yourself to now get a laugh from direct conversation with the audience is a seldom accomplished feat.

Here's a scene from early on in the film, showing almost immediately his irritating personality and neurotic behavior:




Laughasaurus worthiness:

As you may now have noticed, I have begun the first few weeks of Laughasaurus' Movie Mondays by discussing comedies from different decades in progression. First the '30s with "Duck Soup", the '50s with "The Seven Year Itch" and this week, the '70s. My purpose in doing this was to show you the development of the art of comedy in film over the course of the century.

What makes Annie Hall worthy of a post is not only its writing but the way Woody Allen brings out that writing in his neurotic acting. There aren't really any other "funny" characters in the movie; aside from Alvy Singer they're all pretty normal.

The neurotic aspects of Singer's character are the most apparent in him and effectively drive the narrative. Even from a young age, the character of Alvy Singer is neurotic and fatalistic beyond the measure of most adults:



This clip shows Alvy Singer's other major flaw: denial. He almost refuses to accept that anything bad that happens in his life is his fault, and, instead of trying to fix himself, he tries to fix others.

This characteristic is funny in that it creates comedic situations, but it eventually leads to his ending up alone, as he is so resistant to change.

But, as with most movies, the ending result is not as important as the journey. I hope you enjoy Annie Hall.