Annie Hall

1977.

#31 / #35

Winner of 4 Academy Awards.

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) falls in love with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The film follows their relationship through thick and thin, flashbacks and animation, break-up and reunion.

Eddie: ANNIE HALL is one of my five favorite movies of all time. I think that the movie is damn-near flawless. Allen and Keaton are like the positive and negative charges of a battery, electrifying the film with their beautiful interplay. Their stammering and self-consciousness make the movie seem so real. The long takes and the minimal soundtrack, interrupted by direct addresses and metafictional flashbacks - ANNIE HALL perfectly captures the beauty and devastation of love.

The magic number in this film is 2, as in the number of times that Allen shows us the same thing. The film starts and ends with Alvy telling an old joke. The film has two lobster scenes, and the second one is so different from the first, your heart will break (unless you are a robot). Annie sings twice. Alvy makes two trips to L.A. The first is always the set-up, and the second is the heartbreak.

Sarah: Wow. Eddie just showed his soft side. He loves heartbreak more than I love steak and Red Bull.

I feel guilty for not loving this movie, but I just don't love it. I recognize it's cleverness, but I'm not.... enchanted or moved by it. I'm not even delighted by it. The long takes and minimal dialogue put me to sleep faster than a Benedryl. Plus, I get angry that Woody Allen is the lead. He is such an unattractive man and I hate that Hollywood can have fat or ugly or stupid male leads but the women must always be young and beautiful. I guess the disappointment is that I, at some point in the film, want to fall in love with Woody Allen.

But I never do. This is the only movie so far on the list I feel bad for not liking. But, there it is.

Why You Should See It: Even though they're broken up at the time, Alvy rushes to Annie's apartment in the middle of the night to kill a very big spider in her bathroom. This moment has special significance for us, because Eddie once drove thirty minutes to Sarah's house to kill a black widow.