Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

Annie Hall

6/11/2015

2.30
C+

Alvy’s persistent neurotic behavior almost stressed me out - Drew

Alvy Singer is enraging, but in the way real people often are, with all their contradictions and blind spots and inconsistencies - Jon
I love the concept, I hate the execution - Phil

Initial Review by Sean

Meh

As I continue to choose movies that are recognized as classics that I’ve never seen before somebody veto the next time I pick something from the 70s. Annie Hall isn’t a bad movie but to borrow from Sonny Carolla it just didn’t move the needle for me. The first half hour is the strongest of the movie and we get to see some of Allen’s wit while at the same time his neurotic jittery nature hasn’t worn you out yet. My first attempt to watch Mindy made me turn it off because she couldn’t handle him anymore and I totally get it. I also get why some people really enjoy it. I think you have to be in the proper mindset and setting to maximize Woody Allen. I finished it last night while tired and running the dishwasher in the nearby kitchen. Tired and noisy is not ideal for Woody Allen, you need quiet and focus to catch his phrasing while he is ranting to be able to catch the jokes. Because of that I may try to watch another of his movies in a better mindset, Tom recommended Manhattan Murder Mystery the other day.

Let’s break down a couple of takeaways- the 4th wall. I’m not a guy who is firmly pro or con on breaking the 4th wall but I hated it in this movie. It was ok in the intro where he describes himself but once he got into the story it didn’t fit- more annoying than that was when things would happen and he would talk to random strangers on the street about what they think about his situation, most annoying of that is the extras would get in line to provide their commentary and sometimes they’d be used sometimes not every time he did it is pissed me off with 1 exception. When he was in the movie line loudly complaining about the guy standing behind him who teaches at Columbia, it was funny that he went over to the actual person who shut down the expert. This worked for me because it reminded me of the movie Back to School starring Rodney Dangerfield. In that movie Rodney plays Thornton Melon the owner of a chain of Big and Fat stores who joins his son in college and joins the diving team. He hires experts to do his homework including Kurt Vonnegut himself to write a paper about Kurt Vonnegut, his love interest/professor fails him for obviously having someone else write it for him while saying, whoever wrote it doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut. It was funnier when Dangerfield did it although I would say he was inspired by Allen.

2nd big takeaway/question. I’ve not seen any other Woody Allen films, does he always play a caricature of the New York Jewish male? I get it he’s Jewish and from New York but does he have any other qualities? Is it his age that pushes that onto screen for him being a young child during WWII?

Lastly and to set up Kissel’s research, the loudest laugh came unintentionally when he compared politicians to child molesters. Granted in 1977 we were 25 years away from controversy with him but damn.

C+ is the meh grade right?

26 Comments

Drew

6/9/2015 10:01:35 am

Annie Hall left me with an unsure feeling. It certainly had its funny moments but the humor at times was lost on me. I constantly felt nervous and that was uncomfortable. If that was Woody Allen’s motive, then well done. Alvy’s persistent neurotic behavior almost stressed me out. By its end, I came close needing a cigarette. To reiterate if that was Allen’s motive, he was successful but laughter was supposed to happen at points, right?

Jason Alexander from Seinfeld stated how he based the George character off Woody Allen prior to learning George was based off Larry David. When watching Alvy, “George” kept popping in my head to ad nauseam. George was a great character but it was almost too much for me.

On the bright side, it brought out some nice cameos from Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, and Paul Simon.
Annie Hall is probably Woody Allen’s most popular film and received high praise from critics but what did they see that I did not? Where was the fantastic character development? Did they enjoy the real life version of Family Guy flashbacks where I did not?

Annie Hall left me with an unsure, “meh” feeling. I laughed several times and could even relate to some aspects of the story but always felt nervous. I could not shake that feeling and it bothered me.

Grade: C

Bryan

6/10/2015 08:38:28 am

I love these first two reviews.

Allen's neurosis irritated me from the first minute. To me he was an unfunny version of Larry David. Drew mentions George, and yes George's character is irritating, but it's toned down by the acting around him. I chuckled once every 5-8 minutes, and much like Sean. The mention of 16 year old girls was funny given what Allen has been convicted/accused of.

I wasn't a fan of the 4th wall either, but the flashbacks were my favorite scenes. A comedy of built in flashbacks setting up current and future scenes seems plausible.

Comedies have a tough time making it to the end, the last 1/3 of all Will Farrel movies are usually brutal. However, I think this one probably made it for those who enjoy Woody Allen.

This was not my cup of tea - some scenes were painful, and not in the Michael Scott nervous sort of way. In the "Is this over yet" sort of way. Enjoyed the flashbacks and an occasional joke here and there. D+/C-, sorting out some thoughts, just finished in moments ago.

Bobby

6/11/2015 03:52:22 am

I was really close to dropping a D+, but felt it deserved slightly higher than A Girl Who Walks... (although, I probably owe that movie a rewatch one day)

Shane

6/16/2015 07:06:40 am

You don't.

Jon

6/10/2015 05:07:11 pm

Whoo, boy, there's a lot to talk about here. This is going to be long and cover a lot, so bear with me.

I don't really get Woody Allen as a cultural figure, with his Catskills, Jewish, inside-baseball style of humor. The neuroticism and the self-loathing of it creates a real distance between relating to any of his characters that occupy that space. I'm sure that person is real, but they seem intolerable. It's such a distasteful persona, that I wonder if it's a response to anti-Semitism, and not the kind of exaggerated anti-Semitism that Alvy sees where it doesn't exist. Maybe by embracing and inhabiting Jewish stereotypes, Jews are taking their power away, like black peoples' use of the n-word. As a Jewish icon, Allen has made his career with that kind of portrayal, whether he's doing it or a surrogate is using his voice, a la Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris.

Cultural appropriation or not, I'm glad that style is nearly extinct. I don't really know that any big comedians mimic Allen anymore. Jerry Seinfeld is too conventional, and Larry David hates everyone. The big-name Jews are guys that have completely assimilated, like Adam Sandler or Judd Apatow or Seth Rogen. That's a part of their shtick, but not anywhere near the main one. When Allen goes, the nebbishy, hypochondriac Jew might only be kept alive by Kyle's awful cousin on South Park. I would mostly be fine with that.

That stereotype Jew portrayal may never be more concentrated than in Annie Hall, Allen's most influential and well-known movie. It feels very autobiographical, as Alvy's a stand-up comedian, he talks so much about his upbringing, he dated Diane Keaton in real life, and Alvy's moderately famous in the world of the film. Allen claims it isn't, but death of the author, yo. If the viewer feels like this is as true a portrayal of Allen that he's ever put on film, then that's the way the viewer is going to see Allen in real life. I've only seen four of Allen's movies, and this is the only one that he appears in, but it seems like a perfect distillation of the man himself, for good or ill. He's by turns short-sighted and insightful, generous and withholding, romantic and hateful, a complete person albeit one I would want to spend no time with.

As the center of the film, it's hard to tell how much Allen likes Alvy, which is probably a result of any self-loathing that Allen himself might have. He's constantly undercutting the character. He pontificates in public against people pontificating in public. He's a smart guy who knows when he's faking it, just waiting to be called on his bullshit. He's an enlightened liberal who assumes Annie's distemper is menstruation-related. He craves self-knowledge, but Annie gets more out of one therapy session than he's had in over a decade. Alvy Singer is enraging, but in the way real people often are, with all their contradictions and blind spots and inconsistencies.

The parts of Annie Hall dealing with Alvy's past show how incapable of growth he is. All his time in therapy haven't done anything about his narcissism, as demonstrated very early on where he says that his community had a saying; "Those who can't do, teach." Dude, that's a saying everywhere, Coney Island didn't coin it, but by saying 'we,' Alvy's pretending that his community was somehow wittier than anywhere else, which therefore makes him preternaturally better. The depiction of his marriages show how little self-awareness he has in regards to his sex life, with his first wife frustrated by his lack of interest and his second wife turning the tables. His fatal flaw is his quest for self-knowledge, but an unwillingness to do anything about it, something I can certainly relate to.

Sean

6/11/2015 03:13:23 am

I wanted to go farther with my Jewish caricature comment but couldn't figure out how to do it without sounding like a "goddamn antisemmite" was even going to mention Seinfeld and Larry David. Good job.

6/10/2015 05:08:03 pm

As the object of his affections, Annie Hall is more charming but equally annoying. She starts out as a manic pixie dream girl who gains the self-knowledge that Alvy craves, which then gives her the confidence to get the hell away from him. Her initial portrayal, intimidated by Alvy and reduced to a stuttering, rambling, ditzy disaster is garbage, such that I don't believe the character as a person that exists, anywhere. She begins as just a collection of quirks, from the erratic driving to the Grandpa Simpson style storytelling, capped off with a lack of self-confidence that races past self-deprecating into self-hatred. She's fundamentally weak, and therefore completely unlikable.

To the film's credit, weak, unconfident Annie is the one given the real arc, while Alvy is mostly the same person start to finish. As condescending as he is to her, and how accurate her assessment is that he thinks she's dumber than him, his prodding does make her a more self-possessed person, something plainly apparent by the end. She treated her therapist like a professional and not as an audience, and therefore actually got something out of it. It's notable that she, the person that could barely get a sentence out in his presence when they first met, is the one that succinctly breaks up with him for the final time on the plane. Where she was unbearable at the beginning, she becomes worthy of the viewer's admiration by the end, while Alvy is left to sulk about how he paid for the therapy that made her realize she was wasting her time with him. I think she ends the film happy, while Alvy remains incapable of it. I'm happy for her, while being ambivalent about his continued misery.

As agitating as Allen's persona is, and how insular all his jokes about therapy are, and how mind-bogglingly easy it is for him to keep getting these women with no effort and anti-charisma, I do think Annie Hall's a smart film deserving of its recognition as a great film. It's in the middle of the Sight and Sound list of lists, and while I certainly wouldn't put it there, I get it. The influence this film has had is obvious to anyone who's seen a romantic comedy in the last 30 years. (500) Days of Summer is practically a modern remake. The New Hollywood period, widely recognized to be the Golden Age of Film, was just ending around 1977 with the release of Star Wars, and Annie Hall's one of the big achievements of the time. That it beat Star Wars for Best Picture that year is a vote for story over spectacle, something I'm never going to quibble with.

The man that created this timeless work brings up something I don't believe we've talked about before. Does the behavior of the artist impact the art? I think the important factor is whether or not the subject surrounding their bad behavior works its way into their films. Mel Gibson is a now a famous Jew-hater, which validates all the criticism around anti-Semitism in Passion of the Christ. His treatment of the foppish prince in Braveheart is also questionable, seeing as he's an ultra-Catholic, and that character's weakness seems to stem from the fact that he's gay. With Gibson, a reassessment of his work is warranted. With someone like Roman Polanski, who 100% drugged and raped a 13-year old, I'm more cloudy. I haven't seen every movie he's done, but in the few I have (Chinatown, Carnage, The Ghost Writer), there's very little to remind the viewer of what he did. It's easier to separate Polanski the pederast from Polanski the director.

6/11/2015 01:33:03 am

Annie Hall, 500 Days of Summer ratings
Jon B-, B-
Sean C+, B-
Bryan C-,C+

Apt comparison.

6/11/2015 03:51:31 am

C- (bordering D+, B+ for me.

6/11/2015 04:42:43 am

How can something border D+/B+?

6/11/2015 04:49:16 am

He forgot his closed parenthesis ) after the D+. B+ was his 500 Days of Summer grade because he loves Seth Rogen

6/11/2015 05:20:48 am

Is there a deleted scene with Seth Rogen in 500 Days of Summer or something?

6/11/2015 07:23:47 am

I was thinking 50/50 You got me

6/10/2015 05:08:53 pm

Allen, on the other hand, is a different story. To recap, Mia Farrow found nude pictures of her 20-year-old daughter Soon-Yi Previn amongst Allen's things. Farrow and Allen had been together since Previn was eight. Previn and Allen have been together ever since, but their relationship is unquestionably creepy. Plus, there's the allegations that he molested another of Farrow's daughters when she was seven. I have no idea if those allegations are true or not, but based on his history with Previn, it's a possibility. In Annie Hall, there's several jokes that are creepy through the lens of current events. Alvy's actor friend is pissed at having to bail Alvy out because he was in the middle of threesome with two 16-year-old twins. A statutory and an incest twofer! The grown Allen sitting in a school desk, defending his unwanted kissing of a young girl is especially iffy. These scenes are out in the ether, and Allen's not a film-altering monster like George Lucas, but with all his antics, Annie Hall suffers in retrospect.

It's not like Annie Hall's an anomaly when it comes to age-inappropriate relationships. Both of Allen's most recent movies are about middle-aged professors wanting to date their students. Allen's other widely-recognized masterpiece, Manhattan, begins with Allen's character in a relationship with a 17-year-old. In Whatever Works, Larry David as an Allen-surrogate falls into a relationship with Evan Rachel Wood, many decades his junior. Some of this may very well be Hollywood standards. It was in the news recently that 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal was told she was too old to play a 55-year-old man's girlfriend. In Chef, Jon Favreau saw fit to give himself a relationship with the 18-year younger Scarlett Johansson. However, Allen is supposed to be this paragon of independent cinema, above the Hollywood system. That he keeps going back to the age-disparity well is weird given everything known about him.

In summation, Annie Hall is agitating, disconcerting, not very funny, but somehow, a perceptive film about life. People only change through great effort and force of will. Life is mostly tedium punctuated by joyful moments. There's plenty of gender tropes that have never been more clearly delineated than in Annie Hall. That that profundity is buried under 90 minutes with one of the most unpleasant personas in Hollywood is a shame. If Allen could wipe off that Jew-face makeup and have a little more self-awareness in regards to the sexual dynamics in his film, this would be higher than a B-.

6/16/2015 07:17:44 am

Relationships with older teens was looked down upon as it is now. There are approximately 500 70's rock songs about the lead singers seducing 16 year olds. It doesn't justify it, but it doesn't provide context to acknowledge it.

The following song was a gold single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn0ZJHVH17I

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run, girl
You're much too young, girl

With all the charms of a woman
You've kept the secret of your youth
You led me to believe
You're old enough to give me Love
And now it hurts to know the truth, oh

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run, girl
You're much too young, girl

Beneath your perfume and make-up
You're just a baby in disguise
And though you know
That it is wrong to be alone with me
That come on look is in your eyes, oh

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run, girl
You're much too young, girl

So hurry home to your mama
I'm sure she wonders where you are
Get out of here before I have the time
To change my mind
'Cause I'm afraid we'll go too far, oh

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run, girl
You're much too young, girl

Young girl, get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
Better run, girl
You're much too young, girl

Young girl, get out of my mind

6/16/2015 07:26:25 am

I'll take Things I learned from Adam Carolla for 200 Alex

6/17/2015 10:29:30 am

carolla sent me.

6/11/2015 03:48:18 am

Well, that was underwhelming.

Isn't Annie Hall listed on all kinds of comedy and 'funniest movie of all time' type of lists? The funniest part of the movie was Alvy sneezing on the coke.. that and when Jeff Goldblum showed up and made me think of the link I posted about Jurassic World may have been the only moments I gave a mental laugh.

A friend was telling me that people she's had conversations with about Annie Hall, actually like Alvy as a character. A few people have mentioned Larry David already... which is fair, and why I thought I might have a chance at liking this film. Alvy just feels like a really bad and unfunny precursor to Larry and George. I actually watched a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiam again recently, and it's still hilarious. Also, it's just really hard to separate Alvy from Woody Allen while watching...

It doesn't start off well with young Alvy kissing girls who don't want it and trying to justify it, trying to coerce Annie into sex and being upset with her 'excuses,' a direct mention child molestation, and the 16 year old twin bit that a couple of you already brought up. Still, beyond that, Alvy may be intelligent and perceptive, but he's not interesting, funny, or likable... at all.

If it wasn't for Diane Keaton, her wardrobe, and some appearances by some recognizable people... I may have actually preferred Frances Ha to Annie Hall (the movies, not the characters... Annie wins that, hands down... and Alvy is the worst.) Annie's vest and tie was my favorite outfit, and she just looked good throughout the film, and I thought played the title role really well. Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Paul Simon, Shelly Duvall, John Glover, Carol Kane, and Sigourney Weaver all pop up at some point. We also saw a glimpse of Laurie Bird... Simon's girlfriend in the movie, and Garfunkel's real life romance when she committed suicide at the age of 26, only a couple years after Annie Hall was released.

The ending was easily the best portion of the film. And I don't just mean in a 'happy it's over' kind of way. I'm glad Alvy and Annie didn't end up together. Alvy's first play was a nice jab at that, putting the ever after type of ending in there instead of within the actual plot. The conversation and result felt realistic.

I recognize the significance and influence of the film, and it does have its redeeming qualities in the form of Diane Keaton and the ending... but I just don't see it as being a great movie or deserving of all acclaim. Even without Allen's past and the allegations, I don't think I would have enjoyed Annie Hall. Maybe it's just the nature of comedy that's been talked about before... sometimes it just doesn't age well, especially where there are better versions of it today. I'll wrap this up and go watch some more Curb.

C-, and a part of me feels that is being a little generous.

6/11/2015 03:58:28 am

There were a couple of lines I did jot down that I liked...

"There are no twos, Max"
"Harvard makes mistakes, too!"

Also, with Alvy's frustration about the lack of sex he was getting from Annie... I feel like Allen missed perhaps the chance at a joke in the film...

Alvy: Tsch, what'd the doctor say?

Annie: Well, she said that I should probably come five times a week...

Joe

6/13/2015 07:16:56 pm

Jesus Christ. It's 2 in the morning and I can't wait to comment on this ducking movie. It's a B- to B, or so. I'll leave more once I've digested some of what I just watched. I'm not married to that grade range either. I reserve the right to change that grade drastically.

Mindy

6/15/2015 03:40:29 pm

F

need a xanax before you watch this thing

6/16/2015 07:03:48 am

This is one of those movies that I loved, but I totally understand why people would not prefer it. (Objectively, however, I don't understand how someone could give this less than a C.

Woody Allen is obviously a neurotic mess, but his one-liners and timing are fantastic and as a good Catholic, I don't mind the self-deprecating humor. I once had a boss who was from NYC and a rich Jewish guy. He made some attempts at Woody Allen style jokes between his bi-polar mood swings, but he had too much of an ego and didn't know how to make fun of himself. So that wasn't very fun. Big gulps, huh?

To be honest, Annie Hall's flighty mess of a character is more annoying to me, but Diane Keaton makes her likable.

There are some great relationship insights in here and Allen observes with the viewer and deftly shows both sides. For example: "We barely have sex, only 3 times a week." "We have sex constantly, like three times a week." He doesn't make us take a side here, just presents it in an almost anti-comedy way (like Catie Phoebes discussing why she doesn't like Christmas in Gremlins). I liked the conversations they had when they weren't talking out-loud as as well. I think the inner-dialogue when discussing relationships were insightful and clever.

We usually don't talk about editing, but this movie does it so well that I had to mention it. I loved the scene transitions and the way they constantly broke down the 4th wall. (I think the random conversations with people on the street were hilarious.)

Outside of the relationship analysis, we also get some subtle social criticisms. Family dynamics, the drug scene, Hollywood douchebaggery are all subtly roasted.

This is an A.

A couple of sidenotes:

-Great job by Christopher Walken being creepy as always.
-Excellent work by Chef Goldbum of Tim and Eric fame.

Phil

6/17/2015 05:35:45 am

Before watching Annie Hall, I was out at dinner with a friend and my wife. The main conversation topic of the dinner was regarding her breaking up with her boyfriend. I kept trying to provide the “male context” b/c I could understand his POV better having actually lived it. Like any story where you only hear one side, I had to take it with a grain of salt b/c his version would be different no doubt, and the truth is always somewhere in the middle.

Juxtaposing that experience with Annie Hall on the same night was almost too coincidental. Annie Hall plays out in almost the exact same way. We’re hearing about a breakup through Alvy’s eyes. I did appreciate the line where he turned to the audience to ensure that we heard Annie’s Freudian slip of “wife” instead of “life.” We have to agree with Alvy b/c that is what we heard, but who knows if that’s how the conversation actually went. This scene exploited a couple of my favorite plot devices – breaking the fourth wall and the unreliable narrator. I always enjoy the latter of the two there, as we are then left to figure out if what we saw was what was actually true.

However, once the novelty wore off, we were left with a character study that was pretty boring. I drifted off badly in the last third of the movie, no longer totally invested in Alvy and Annie’s crumbling relationship.

I’d go on longer about this one, but there’s a reason I waited two weeks to write my review. I was totally uninspired. This was a movie with plot devices that should have worked on me big time, but I was just so bored and out by the end. I love the concept, I hate the execution.

Grade: C

6/19/2015 06:20:35 am

By the way, you guys all need to meet more Jewish people from New York.

Cooker

6/21/2015 02:09:07 am

Since I'm always so far behind on viewing these movies, I'll simply summarize my Annie Hall experience with a quote by Ned Flanders.
"You know, I like his films, except for that nervous fellow that's always in them." C-

6/21/2015 02:54:03 pm

C- movie, A+ review

Annie Hall

2.30
C+

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Annie Hall

2.30C+

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2.30
C+