I Need The Eggs: Thoughts After (Finally) Watching Annie Hall

Annie Hall is one of those movies you hear referenced from the time you are old enough to hear, but you have to go out of your way to actually watch. There's no edited for TV version that plays on repeat during the cold winter months. No one in my life has ever said, "Let's watch Annie Hall tonight!" And so, even though I am well into my 30's...I have never seen this classic. It doesn't help that Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are not on my list of favorite celebrities. I probably could go my entire life without seeing this, but of course Tina Fey intervened. A few weeks ago, I saw a brief interview where Fey mentions Annie Hall as her favorite movie. And so I began to search and found it on sale for $4.99 in iTunes. I bought it. I kind of assumed that if Tina Fey likes it enough to call it her favorite, than I would like it enough to own it. Tonight seems like a great time to watch it. I will return soon with my review.

So I can now say I've seen Annie Hall. Let me just dive right in.

Woody Allen drives me crazy and not in a good way. His voice and nervous gestures do not inspire him as a leading man. Diane Keaton is no better. Her "fashion" has always bothered me, and she awkwardly stutters almost every line she delivers in this movie. How does she manage to avoid eye contact completely? He's a controlling intellectual above current cultural trends. She's a slightly insecure free spirit who embraces the moment. Alvy and Annie are caricatures!

And yet, I totally get why this movie is considered to be a classic.

The format is clever. It was probably one of the first movies of this kind to pull off some of the formatting tricks it attempts. Side bars, narration, bizarre imagined honesty, cartoons, split screen shots. The dialogue is really fast and witty. There is no real glamour in this movie outside of the subtle quips giving tribute to New York and a little to California. It's in the Rom-Com genre, but it's not out and out funny, nor is it overly romantic either. If anything, it tells the story of how we deconstruct, and in some ways, destroy each other. In other words, it's a little depressing.

Spoiler Alert for any of you living even further under a rock than me: Annie and Alvy do not end up together. But that's really not what the movie is about. We've been kind of spoiled and sheltered by movies of the 80's up until the early 2000's. I'm talking about anything John Hughes touched or influenced. The goal in those movies is for the two people to fall in love and live happily ever after. I know people who are disappointed if a movie doesn't conclude with a wedding scene! But that's not real life! Sure, people live happily ever after together, but not everyone fits. And it's disappointing and heartbreaking and makes you think you will never love again. But even with the failed relationships, it can't be denied that love changes you. And that's what this movie is about.

Without Annie Hall, we wouldn't have the following: (500) Days of Summer, Juno, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, When Harry Met Sally, Ally McBeal, French Kiss, You've Got Mail, and The Break Up to name a few. The influence this movie has had on directors, writers, and actors, shows up in most of my favorite things to watch. And for that, I can appreciate Annie Hall.

Have you seen Annie Hall? What did you think?