Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Thursday Romantic Comedy Classic. I’m taking a course called The Romantic Comedy where we’re charting the history and development of romantic comedies from the 1920s to the present. We’ll be watching some pretty iconic films, some of which I haven’t seen before. Each week, I’ll be providing a short review of one romantic comedy classic from the annals of history.

Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen
Released April 20, 1977

“Annie Hall” is generally regarded as Woody Allen’s best movie, and certainly his first real foray into semi-serious dramedy. It marks the real start of the romantic comedy that doesn’t necessarily provide a happy ending and showcases the more serious, troublesome moments and times of a relationship. It’s clear that Allen’s classic has influenced recent films like “500 Days of Summer” and “Peter and Vandy” and has made this kind of movie into an almost completely separate genre: the relationship film. It’s also highly indicative of Allen’s oeuvre of work. I personally love “Manhattan” best, but this certainly has some tremendously wonderful scenes which Allen references and repeats many times in his later films. Among the most entertaining devices used and preferred by are inserting himself in a non-diegetic manner, revisiting his childhood classroom to find out what happened to all of his classmates when they grew up or pulling Marshall McLuhan into the scene to tell a talkative moviegoer that his thoughts and beliefs are all wrong. It’s especially intriguing to take a trip into Allen’s head, and it’s never felt more real since Alvy Singer is the closest character Allen has played to himself, as a stand-up comedian whose romances with women are plagued by his undying neuroses. It’s a role that fits Allen like a glove and one which he expanded upon for future parts in “Manhattan,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” and “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” This isn’t the entirely goofy Allen from “Bananas,” but an only slightly more refined funnyman. And then there’s Diane Keaton, who won an Oscar for this part and whose “La dee da, la dee da,” complete with hat and tie, charmed moviegoers back then and still continues to do so. If this isn’t Allen’s best, it’s certainly one of his best.

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