Annie Hall (1977)

Movie · 1977 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 33m · PG · English

Curator score: 8.9/10 (657.9K ratings)

A nervous romance.

Overview

New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Ratings

Director

Woody Allen

Production

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, United Artists

Cast

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken, Donald Symington, Helen Ludlam, Mordecai Lawner, Joan Neuman, Jonathan Munk, Ruth Volner, Martin Rosenblatt, Hy Anzell, Rashel Novikoff, Russell Horton, Marshall McLuhan

Where to watch

Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads

Curator Review

Verdict

A landmark romantic comedy-drama with sharp neurotic humor, inventive formal tricks, and a deeply influential voice in modern screenwriting. It’s as much a breakup movie and a character study as a love story, and its style still feels fresh even when its perspective feels dated.

Best for

  • Viewers who like talky, character-driven comedies
  • Fans of unconventional editing and fourth-wall breaks
  • People interested in influential 1970s New York cinema
  • Audiences open to flawed, self-satirizing protagonists

Skip if

  • You’re looking for a warm or purely romantic love story
  • You’re sensitive to misogynistic or emotionally self-centered viewpoints
  • You want fast-paced plotting over conversational drift
  • You prefer films that feel morally or culturally contemporary

Overview

Annie Hall is one of the defining American comedies of the 1970s, built from nervous energy, observational wit, and a constant awareness of its own construction. The film turns a relationship into a memory puzzle, using split screens, subtitles, animation, and direct address to make the mechanics of attraction and regret feel playful and intimate at once.

Worth noting

What still lands is the precision of the comic writing and the way the movie captures the self-justifying logic of a doomed romance. It’s funny, brittle, and often painfully recognizable in how it depicts insecurity, incompatibility, and the need to narrate your own life as a joke.

Bottom line

At the same time, its reputation comes with caveats. The film’s gender politics and the central character’s worldview can be grating or alienating, and that tension is part of why it remains so debated. If you can separate admiration for the craft from discomfort with the perspective, it’s an essential watch.

Top Letterboxd reviews

kayla (2★) · 5357 likes

I liked the part when they were talking to each other and there are subtitles that say what they’re thinking

Carrie (3★) · 4593 likes

How is it possible that someone as insufferable as Woody Allen's character had multiple long-term relationships???

Christina (4★) · 3317 likes

LOL woody also writing his six year old self as a creep

Karsten (3★) · 2761 likes

I’ve seen a lot of movies jack themselves off, some of which I actually quite loved, but this one went full autofellatio. This review isn’t even about the allegations against Woody, I actually went in expecting to love this. I would just genuinely love to hear others thoughts on why it’s considered a masterpiece because I feel like I’m...missing something.

benhack (3.5★) · 2281 likes

why pay to surgically remove ribs to suck your own dick when you can write, act, and direct a feature film to the same effect!

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Topics

romantic comedy-drama, New York City, neurotic humor, relationship breakdown, nonlinear storytelling, 1970s cinema, self-aware, character study, witty dialogue, formal experimentation

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