Director: Woody Allen
Year Released: 1977
Rating: 3.5
Classic Allen film that may not be his best (I prefer Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Sleeper, etc.) but is certainly one of his most recognized. I had the distinct pleasure of watching it this particular time (my fourth, if my count is correct) with a college class, most of whom didn't laugh at any of it - I'm guessing it's either they didn't get the references (Cossacks and Marshall McLuhan and Fellini and taking a date to The Sorrow and the Pity of all the damn movies) or dry, intellectual humor is passé nowadays (in the age of gross-out gags and The 40-Year-Old Virgin) or some combination of both (I also think most college kids, when sober, are dull, frightened beings). I still appreciate the self-depreciating wit, the expert breakdown of a relationship in bloom (and in collapse), and of Allen's visual creativity (subtitles showing 'hidden' thoughts, cartoon clips, 'breaking the third wall'). Solipsistic, yes, but you need to make allowances for a genius.
