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Description: Considered to be "Woody Allen's breakthrough movie" (Time), Annie Hall won* four OscarsĀ(r), including Best Picture, and established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker. Thought by many critics to be Allen's magnum opus, Annie Hall confirmed that he had, "completed the journey from comic to humorist, from comedy writer to wit [and] from inventive moviemaker to creative artist" (Saturday Review). Alvy Singer (Allen) is one of Manhattan's most brilliant comedians, but when it comes to romance, his delivery needs a little work. Introduced byhis best friend, Rob (Tony Roberts), Alvy falls in love with the ditzy but delightful nightclub singer, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). When his own insecurities sabotage the affair, Annie is forced to leave Alvy for a new lifeand lover (Paul Simon)in Los Angeles. Knowing he may have lost Annie forever, Alvy's willing to go to any lengthseven driving L.A.'s freewaysto recapture the only thing that ever mattered'true love. *1977: Picture; Actress (Keaton); Director; Original Screenplay Amazon.com essential video: Annie Hall is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of "I'm not smart enough for him" and "I sound like a jerk." Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is uncontestable he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's "Grammy Hall" as "a classic Jew-hater." The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging. --Susan Benson Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-06
Annie Hall
This DVD arrived very quickly for standard mail and was in excellent condition. I would have appreciated some kind of bonus feature or two, but there was none. Then again, if the product is associated with Woody Allen, it seems very much his style. As for the movie itself, it's one of Allen's best, thanks to Diane Keaton. It's hard to believe the movie is now over 30 years old, but Keaton is as charming as ever. The 3 star rating is for the skimpy DVD. Keaton is a 5 star actor. Rating: 
Date: 2008-03-25
Oh, Oscar, how could you?
Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
I've never been a big Woody Allen fan, but all the critics scream about Annie Hall, which won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1977 (along with three others, including Best Director and Best Actress for Diane Keaton). So I figured I'd give it a shot and see if I've just been missing something all these years. I haven't. I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone thinks Woody Allen is funny, and this movie didn't help in the least. Worse, while I can understand that the temporality of the film was a big plus when it was originally released, watching the tropes of seventies life thirty years later is more tiresome than nostalgic. We lived through it once, why do we need to watch it on a screen? If you insist, documentaries are better-suited for this sort of thing. There's some decent acting, and Allen's direction is at least competent, but those facets just serve to highlight that there's nothing going on here worth being concerned about. * Rating: 
Date: 2008-03-10
interesting
It's a rather difficult movie to get into. It's filled with flashbacks that make the movie jump around from scene to scene. It's a good movie otherwise and I can see why it is known as one of Woody Allen's best. Rating: 
Date: 2008-03-10
The lobster is definitely in the pot!
Wow, the humor of Woody Allen! I first saw this a while back and loved it, and just saw it recently and it's timeless!
Woody is so brilliant, I love his comedies, but you have to understand him, no I'm not saying understand his love for his way-too-young-step-daughter, but his comedic mind.
This movie won the Academy for Best Picture in 1977. It is relatively short--about 1 1/2 hours, but packed full of laughs. Woody is Alvy Singer and reminisces about his lost true love, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The movie is full of scenes depicting his times with Annie. Alvy is a somewhat "nerdy" comic writer and falls for Annie, a mid-west, part-time photographer. In one scene Alvy tries to boil live lobsters, but they are crawling all over the floor---just fun to watch! One skit, where Alvy and Annie wait in line for a movie and a "know-it-all" guy in back of them tries to quote and analyze movies and media gurus. Alvy goes and pulls out Marshall McCluhan from out of nowhere and McCluhan tells the "know-it-all" he's full of crap and doesn't know what he's talking about. If you ever studied filmmaking in school, you were forced to read works by Marshall McCluhan, (I found McCluhan to be kind of full of crap---maybe I was too young then) so personally I found this scene, very amusing!
This film is cute and funny it is definitely a must see! Rating:
Date: 2008-02-25
Annie Hall
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton play themselves and get an Academy Award for Best Picture. The setting is Woody's beloved Manhattan. The dialogue is memorable. Woody is the intellectual Jew forever questioning himself. Much was made of Keaton's outfit. It was a mark of women's liberation but out of step with current disco fashion. I like the scene where they talk and their thoughts are shown at the bottom of the screen. Christopher Walken is Keaton's weird brother. Walken was on the boat the night Natalie Wood drowned. Rumors flew that they were having an affair. I drove into Nashville to see the film and parked along the river. When I came out, my car had been towed. I understood Woody's contempt for authority.
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