The Critics' Corner on ANNIE HALL

Critics fell all over themselves praising Annie Hall when it opened theatrically. The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner hailed it as Woody Allen's "wittiest, best film to date, both more socially and personally observant in its departure into the foibles and traumas of a human relationship." In Saturday Review, Judith Crist called it "Allen's most satisfying creation and our most gratifying comedic experience in recent years." In Time, Richard Schickel opined that it is "a ruefully romantic comedy that is at least as poignant as it is funny and may be the most autobiographical film ever made by a major comic."

In Newsweek, Janet Maslin saw the film as "bracingly adventuresome and unexpectedly successful, with laughs as satisfying as those in any of Allen's other movies and a whole new staying power."

Even Stanley Kauffmann, no Woody Allen fan, wrote in The New Republic that "the cheery news (is) he has written his best film script and he is now a competent director." Curmudgeonly critic Pauline Kael called it "the neurotic's version of Abie's Irish Rose."

M.J. Sobran, Jr. at the National Review dismissed the film when he wrote, "What it finally comes to is ninety minutes of coitus interruptus, fun but fruitless. Annie Hall may look like a comedy or a romance, but it's really a tsuris trap." The New York Daily News warned that "Annie Hall will likely be a trifle disconcerting for audiences who've been reduced to tears of laughter by Woody Allen; his new comedy is so tinged with sadness it tends to encourage actual weeping."

Critic John Simon went in the negative direction when he complained that the film is "everything we never wanted to know about Woody's sex life and were afraid he'd tell us anyway."

"Annie Hall" contains more intellectual wit and cultural references than any other movie ever to win the Oscar%reg; for best picture, and in winning the award in 1977 it edged out "Star Wars," an outcome unthinkable today....This is a movie that establishes its tone by constantly switching between tones: The switches reflect the restless mind of the filmmaker, turning away from the apparent subject of a scene to find the angle that reveals the joke. "Annie Hall" is a movie about a man who is always looking for the loopholes in perfection. Who can turn everything into a joke, and wishes he couldn't." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times/I>.

"It's safe to say that every Woody Allen film has a cult following. But only Annie Hall is loved - loved is the correct word - by every Allen fan, as well as those obstinate moviegoers who still won't concede Allen is a great filmmaker....I think it is the film that generates the most warmth among Allen fans, for it was the pivotal film of his career...Annie Hall marked Allen's transition from a functional and slapdash, though instinctively funny, filmmaker to one who is technically innovative, thematically sophisticated, intent on capturing the beauty of the women and the city (New York) he loves, eager to explore his characters, and passionate about using this storytelling medium to its fullest." - Danny Peary, Cult Movies 3.

AWARDS & HONORS:

With the release of Annie Hall, Woody Allen became the first person since Orson Welles in 1941 to be nominated for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay Oscars®. The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Director.

Other Annie Hall honors include winning four British Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress (Keaton). The film also won the 1978 Directors Guild Award, the Golden Globe Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy award (Keaton), the 1977 Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Screenplay, four New York Film Critics Circle awards including Best Picture and Best Director, and the 1992 National Film Registry award.

by Scott McGee & Jeff Stafford