Annie Hall

Written and directed by Woody Allen, Annie Hall details the ups and downs of a tumultuous relationship between Allen’s Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton’s title character – with the movie boasting a number of oddball cutaways and absurd moments of comedy. (There is, for example, an entire sequence that transpires in animated form.) Allen’s imaginative, often avant-garde approach to the material goes a long way towards compensating for a decidedly uneven atmosphere, to be sure, as the filmmaker infuses the proceedings with several justifiably-iconic images and moments (including Marshall McLuhan’s almost inexplicable cameo as himself). It’s just as clear, unfortunately, that Allen’s emphasis on uniformly (and lamentably) unfunny jokes and gags wreaks havoc on Annie Hall‘s already-tenuous momentum, with the total lack of laughs ultimately ensuring that the film simply doesn’t work as a comedy. There is, however, little doubt that the movie’s love-story narrative generally compensates for Allen’s questionable sense of humor, and it’s impossible to deny that the tremendous chemistry between Allen and Keaton plays a significant role in confirming Annie Hall‘s mild success. The end result is an effort that continually falls short in terms of its comedy elements, and yet the superb performances and genuinely moving romance generally keep Annie Hall afloat from start to finish.

**1/2 out of ****