Annie Hall

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I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs. —Alvy Singer

Annie Hall (1977) is an American romantic comedy film directed by Woody Allen from a script co-written with Marshall Brickman. One of Allen's most popular films, it won numerous awards at the time of its release, including four Academy Awards, and in 2002 Roger Ebert referred to it as "just about everyone's favorite Woody Allen movie".

Allen had previously been known as a maker of zany comedies; the director has described Annie Hall as "a major turning point", as it brought a new level of seriousness to his work, in addition to consolidating his signature cinematic style, which includes long, realistically written scenes of conversation, often shot in uninterrupted takes, and an equal thematic investment in both hilarity and heartbreak.

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Tropes used in Annie Hall include:

• All Men Are Perverts / All Women Are Prudes:

Separate therapists: Do you have sex often? Alvy: Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week. Annie: Constantly. I'd say three times a week.

• Anachronic Order
• Author Avatar: Hmmmm...Alvy's neurotic, Jewish, from New York, with a fixation on Diane Keaton, who is also incidentally a stand-up comic...nope, probably just a coincidence...
• Better as Friends: Alvy realizes this at the end of the film.
• Black Comedy Rape: "My grammy never gave gifts. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks."
• The Cameo: literature and mass media critic Marshall McLuhan as himself.
  • Additionally, when they're in the park making comments about passersby, the man they dub "Winner of the Truman Capote lookalike contest" actually was Truman Capote.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Alvy is a mild case. He uses speculations about the JFK assassination to avoid sex with his first wife.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: "Don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love!"
• Department of Redundancy Department: "You mean that my whole fallacy is wrong!"
• Did Not Get the Girl. Subverted, in that both realize they're Better as Friends.
• Drives Like Crazy: Annie herself, and (worse) her brother Dwayne.
  • Alvy himself proves to be a horrible driver when he takes out an entire parking lot in Los Angeles. Yes, he had just lost Annie, but after the first couple of fender benders, that's no excuse.
    • Hey, the guy's a lifelong New Yorker.
• Face Palm: Alvy does this in a flashback to his childhood:

Alvy (voice-over): And Ivan Ackerman. Always the wrong answer. Always. Ivan Ackerman: Seven and three is nine. Alvy: (Face Palm)

• Freudian Slip: A ton. For example:

Alvy: What did the doctor say? Annie: Well, she said that I should probably come five times a week. And you know something? I don't think I mind analysis at all. The only question is, is 'Will it change my wife?' Alvy: Will it change your wife?! Annie: Will it change my life? Alvy: Yeah, but you said, 'Will it change my wife?' Annie: No I didn't. I said, 'Will it change my life, Alvy?' Alvy: (directly to audience) She said, 'Will it change my wife?' You heard that, because you were there. So I'm not crazy.

• Fun with Subtitles: Alvy and Annie's first awkward conversation comes with these.
• Genius Bonus: Alvy's stand up routines in universe. This is Lampshaded by Annie, who--through reading books that Alvy buys for her--begins to understand more of the references he makes.
• Godwin's Law: "What's with all these awards? They're always giving out awards! Best Fascist Dictator: Adolf Hitler!"
• I Have to Go Iron My Dog:

Duane: Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving... on the road at night... I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The... flames rising out of the flowing gasoline. Alvy: Right. Well, I have to - I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.

• Imagine Spot: Seamlessly integrated in many times, most notably the scene in the movie theater line where he pulls in Marshall McLuhan to disprove a blowhard prattling on and on about him. "Boy, if life were only like this!"
• I Was Quite a Looker: Alvy's elderly aunt.

Aunt Tessie: I was quite a lively dancer!

• Jews Love to Argue
• Laugh Track: Rob's use of it to boost his sitcom drives Alvy bonkers, calling it "immoral".

Alvy: Is there booing there?

• Love Allegory: "A relationship is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies."
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Annie. Played straight, then brutally subverted.
• Medium Blending: Alvy and the Evil Queen from Snow White.
• Minnesota Nice: The Wisconsin-born Annie is a combination of Minnesota Nice and Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Also her relatives in the Easter dinner scene: "I can't believe this family... They're talking swap meets and boat basins and the old lady at the end of the table is a classic Jew hater."
• My Name Is Not Durwood:

Alvy: Stop calling me "Max". Rob: Why, Max? It's a good name for you.

• • Reality Subtext: Woody Allen always used "Max" as his fake name in hotel registers.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: A number of Alvy's opinions on life and relationships reek of pessimism and nihilism, best exemplified by the film's opening lines,

Alvy: There's an old joke, um... Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life--full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.

This, however, is turned around when Alvy shares another joke at the very end of the film (See the page quote, at the top of the page) and rationalizes that he has a reason to endure all of the absurdity and suffering "because he needs the eggs".

• No Fourth Wall: Which makes sense, since the entire film is a story that Alvy is telling the viewer.
• One-Scene Wonder: Christopher Walken (who else) as Annie's brother, Dwayne.
• Pensieve Flashback
• Powder Gag: The coke-sniffing scene.
• Racist Grandma: Grammy Hall.
• Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: Averted for the most part.
• Romantic Comedy: A rare example with a Bittersweet Ending.
• Rummage Sale Reject: This film made the look famous.
• Self-Deprecation: Well, it's Woody Allen. What do you expect?
• Sex Changes Everything: Averted when Alvy and Annie have sex for the first time.
• Silent Credits
• Slice of Life: It is a somewhat autobiographical slice of Alvy's life
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Alvy is on the cynical side. "I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable."
• Split Screen: Used several times to comedic effect.
• Subtext
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: "16 years old! Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?"
• Unreliable Narrator: Alvy, by his own admission, has "some trouble between fantasy and reality".
• Vox Pops
• Word of God: Invoked in-story with Marshall McLuhan.