MovieChat Forums > Annie Hall (1977) Discussion > Horribly dated, or perhaps something els...

Horribly dated, or perhaps something else

posted 12 years ago by damiano-1
63 replies | jump to latest

Having endured my insistent and gushing recommendations for some time, my parter agreed to sit down and watch Annie Hall with me yesterday. It was a great disappointment for her and for me.

It must be 20 years since I last saw the film, which hitherto occupied a place in my memory as one of the funniest I had ever seen. I am afraid time has not been kind to Annie Hall, at least for me. Scenes which previously provoked belly laughter fell completely flat, and the whole movie was suffused with a sense of self-regarding importance that was uncomfortable to behold. I felt the same way when I watched California Suite recently, another film I remember as being much better tham it now appears to be; there is a sense that the actors felt they were taking part in Something Important which, while possibly true at the time, serves only to draw attention to itself when watched today.

There are a lot of films from this period which are still every bit as good as they were, so it is clearly not simply a matter of it being dated, but for whatever reason, Annie Hall is now a pale shadw of its former self. I wish it were otherwise.

[–] denbeez 12 years ago

It wasn't "Annie Hall" that changed. You did....which is SUPPOSED to happen after 20 years, by the way.

[–] damiano-1 12 years ago

I take your point but I think your analysis is misguided. The inevitable personal changes which I have undergone in the last 20 years have not affected my enjoyment of other movies from that period.

[–] karaladh 10 years ago

This kind of reasoning really puts your intellectual capacities to doubt.

The room's a wreck, but her napkin is folded.

[–] ireone3 10 years ago

It's also possibly your problem stems from the fact you were watching it with your partner and you had built it up beforehand, A LOT.
This then forced you to watch it with a critical eye, and through their eyes, and you're desperately hoping at every point that it is as brilliant as it needs to be to live up to your recommendation - and it never is.
Therefore it suddenly seems rubbish, you go from one extreme to another. It let you down - so you turn on it.
I had the same problem whenever my mother watched something I liked or their was one of my bands on the radio etc.
It was always rubbish at the time, - because she's impossible to impress, and she hates me, which is my own business, - but still the point holds I think. Because when I went away and watched or listened again in a more relaxed environment, now the stuff was good again!
The only way you can really test this dynamic is to build up to them an awful lot of other things for years and years that your partner has never seen, and then see whether they hold up any better. Having said that perhaps they will become so used to your lousy recommendations that the pressure will be lessened - the expectation will be lessened. Because for this occasion, your reputation was on the line, and also you desperately wanted to link your partner to the person you were before you had met them, to create a bridge to that old you.
We all I think fantasise about that link. It rarely comes through however.
So in conclusion I think you put the film in an impossible situation, it could never live up to the billing, and now you want to come on IMDB and slate a beloved Oscar winner.
Well I still like the movie! Even if you and your partner don't.

[–] EpicalypseAfter 9 years ago

i think denbeez makes a very simple and obvious point. But it's so obvious that it's overlooked, therefore it's a very brilliant point. I forget to see it from that perspective, the movie hasn't changed dummy! we did!

Who I was at the age 12, isn't really the same person today

some movies have less of an impact today some have more

it's normal for a movie like Annie Hall to be irrelevant today, the subject matter has been done to death and we're in 2015 not 1977. "Real life problems" in '77 weren't the same as "real life problems" in 2015

so it's almost doomed

but does it hold a special place in the 70s and 80s? yes

don't tell me that you look at the original King Kong film and go; "wow, i'm just blown by the special effects!" Does it make King Kong any less of a classic? No

it's still should be considered as a very important film in movie history, Annie Hall is important for Romantic Comedies

thanks denbeez!

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jackfrusciante80 12 years ago

just wait until you break up with your partner and go back to watching Annie Hall,and it will be even better than you remembered it the first time :)

[–] huwdj 12 years ago

I loved this film when it came out. I loved Diane Keaton and the Annie Hall look. I watched it first at the cinema with my fellow students, probably at a late night showing, and found the film funny, clever and insightful.
But I've just watched it for the first time in many years and for me it just ain't there any more. It has it's moments and I don't dislike it but what I mainly see is a manipulative selfish git screwing up a relationship because he's too self centered to appreciate what he has. And yes, it's probably due to my older sadder view but perhaps it's not actually a great film after all?
I'm almost afraid to do it but I suppose the next thing to do is find a copy of Manhattan and see how I feel about that now. I remember preferring it to Annie Hall but I think I'll fortify myself with a little wine before risking it.

[–] The_White_Hotel 12 years ago

what I mainly see is a manipulative selfish git screwing up a relationship because he's too self centered to appreciate what he has.

Makes me wonder what you saw before? After all, one of the first things he says is that his main problem with women is that he wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have someone like him for a member. But I don't really see him as selfish - he just wants one thing while Annie wants another. Eventually their conflicting desires make the relationship unsustainable and they break up, even though they kind of don't want to. Sad, but hardly untrue.

Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-made

[–] somesunnyday 11 years ago

what I mainly see is a manipulative selfish git screwing up a relationship because he's too self centered to appreciate what he has.

Isn't that all of us at the end of the day?

[–] huwdj 11 years ago

Whistful thinking perhaps but I don't think so, at least not in such a self conscious way.
Though I suppose you could argue that as the character is telling his own story the manipulative aspect could be something he's only become aware of with the passing of time?

[–] cheese_windmills-1 12 years ago

I totally agree - I saw this today and was really disappointed. I'm 29, people have told me for years Woody Allen is a genius but I have never enjoyed one of his films so I tried watching his supposedly best, Annie Hall and it was terrible. Its not funny, Allen's voice is ridiculous, the characters are annoying, its a rambling bore of a film.

[–] clivey6 11 years ago

There were groundbreaking aspects to it that just aren't groundbreaking any more. The scrawny leading man who talks openly about sex rather than being just some stooge, the New York liberal pov, open discussion about sex generally. And we've seen this stuff now done on Seinfeld and even The Big Bang Theory.

But also, after years of Bush and the rather Ivy League Obama, it just seems that kind of neurotic, Jewish, self-deprecating schtick just isn't on the button now, tastes have moved elsewhere, maybe temporarily. Or at least, as far as cinema goes.

I have to agree that Allen's narcissism is also outdated, most movies really were all about the bloke or leading man back then so it didn't stand out so much, but subtly things have evolved. Even James Bond isn't as narcissistic as he used to be.

Also, Allen's films for me sort of go flat two thirds through, because they are gag after gag, in a way that punctures the mood almost. I didn't wholly get caught up in the narrative. Python had the same problem with their movies, they said.

[–] bwgood77 11 years ago

I think it may be funny to the simpleton, but those with more depth and life experience might just find it a little empty. It's definitely overrated.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gusdanjaq 10 years ago

Forgive us oh lord of everything deep! Please enlighten us about how not to be simpletons! Show me the world great prince! I´ve been living in the shadows until now, please help me get out of my ignorant Shell and show me the films and arts that have been refused to me because of my simpleton nature and I will get on my knees and thank god that such a mercifull superior creature haa shown such empathy towards and inferior but kind hearted being!

I believe in me. I'm a little screwed up but I'm beautiful.

[–] bwgood77 10 years ago

Not up to such difficult tasks at the time. Plenty of them on my plate. Check back later and I may be able to assist. In the meantime, good luck!

[–] BobbyDupea 10 years ago

I think it may be funny to the simpleton, but those with more depth and life experience might just find it a little empty. It's definitely overrated.

I have plenty of depth and life experience, and I think this film is very comical and entertaining. You are not the arbiter of what is deep and what is empty, and what is amusing and what is not.

My real name is Jeff

[–] jacowium 8 years ago

Your inflated opinion of your depth and life experience is definitely overrated. No person with actual depth would think or express such a thought.

Please click on 'reply' at the post you're responding to. Thanks.

[–] lightningcows 11 years ago

humph, looks like I am the minority on this thread. Actually, I thought it held up fairly well in 2013. Other than a few scenes of the 70s cars and the reference to New York as a "dying city" or the $400 apartment (virtually impossible to find nowadays), I actually thought that the film does a pretty good job remaining relevant today. I didn't find any belly-aching laughs, but there was plenty of wit. I enjoyed the moment when Alvy couldn't get "into the mood" because his mind was still on the JFK assassination conspiracies, or the "National Review" magazine being used to swat spiders. I'm pretty sure that some subscribe to "Mother Jones" magazine not because they agree with the views, but to use it as pest control.

The plot of the birth, and death, of a romance is probably nothing new to modern audiences. Similar themes are in "Blue Valentine" and "Blue is the Warmest Color". Still, I did find the relationship between Annie and Alvy to be rather fresh and holds up to modern scrutiny.

[–] jaysoon 10 years ago

i'm watching (well half and half obviously) right now....i think it hold up very well, i love MANHATTAN, PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE, RADIO DAYS IS MY PERSONAL FAVE FOR SOME REASON, BUT CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, ANOTHER WOMAN, and just recently HIS EUROPEAN PERIOD...some great stuff.

people also feel this way about Hitchcock...gotta remember, it wasn't until really like the 80s and 90s people had any way of re-watching unless they lived in a major city that would show old(er) or foreign films that might be in a film festival.

people saying i used to love this and now i don't know why, or woody allen's ridiculous voice....shallow, weak sauce, sorry. guess they wouldn't want to watch Mae West or the Marx Brothers...and nostalgia is one of the keys to Woody's themes .....

[–] Dudley_Dawson 11 years ago

I think it's dated only because every comedian and TV show in the 80's had a Woody Allen impression.

[–] PrometheusTree64 11 years ago

Intentionally or not, ANNIE HALL was a '70s period piece, romantic and wistful. That's its strength, or one of them.

So if it's "dated," in this case, that's a good thing.

--

Non-sequiturs are delicious.

[–] jakdstew 11 years ago

As with most old movies, there are going to be some things that seem dated. This movies has very few of those things, though. In my opinion, this is a movie about satirizing human behavior. There are very few laugh-out-loud moments in the film, but there are more funny moments in this film than most just because you can relate to Alvy. Hasn't everyone experienced the loud pontificator? Doesn't everyone want to talk to a cop like Alvy did? Aside from the very sharp satire in Annie Hall, there are also some very astute observations about love and relationships.

[–] gcarras (2776) 6 years ago

Maybe the twin towers?