No Rom All Com ft Woody Allen as Alvy Singer

Annie Hall by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (1977)

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A well read comic living in New York forces himself out of relationships time and time again, for reasons even he can’t understand. We join Alvy Singer at the end of his latest relationship and he guides us through the time they spent together. If you read between the lines, the evidence of their doomed relationship was there from the start.

I- I- I wonder if writing… er… writing like Alvy Singer speaks is as- as-as painful to actually write as it is to read.

Maybe that came across as harsh, I didn’t mean it to. Let’s start again.

Script Review

Woody Allen has created character perfection.

Simply put, Alvy Singer speaks like a normal human being. What Allen has done in this screenplay is remarkable to watch – but horrible to read. Reading Singer’s speech is so jolty and discontinuous that it becomes infuriating to read; it becomes a task all on its own to decipher what he is ultimately saying half the time. Nonetheless, if stuttered speech is how Alvy Singer speaks, then so be it, I guess the defence of Allen’s choice to write a stutter is:

a) it’s his choice, why does he care that I found it an inconvenience, and

b) a script is meant to be a guide to film, not read like a book, and

c) he wrote it, and he acted it.

Curiously the Alvy Singer backstory is a semi-continuous monologue broken up by scenes from his past. Scenes that are apparently conscious of his future presence. What this does is show a series of arenas that help the audience to understand Alvy as a character. We see where he grew up, where he went to school, it even seamlessly transitions to a comedy panel show.

The monologue is continuous but we are in a completely different location to the start of the monologue. Outstanding writing. I only hope to ever be able to pull something like that off in the future.

If I was to describe the screenplay/film to someone, I would say be prepared for an extremely long monologue. But that isn’t a bad thing, it is refreshing and unique.

Where the problems lie

If I had to be critical about something, Allen utilises one of my personal pet hates, and that is having a character speak another characters personality trait. For example: “Jesus, every time anything happens out of the ordinary, you think that I’m getting my period.” If this is truly an important characteristic Singer should have, then show us, don’t tell us. God knows Allen loves a twisted timeline and a distorted flashback. I feel like this is a cheap throwaway line.

It might just be me, but I don't think these two characters are meant for each other - I get it, that is the point of the story, but the Romantic Comedy suffers for it. As I read, I found myself neither rooting for Alvy nor Annie, just anticipating the next Alvy Singer Zinger.

But other than that... I honestly can't think of anything. The pacing is good, the story is good, the characters are good.

Verdict

Technically amazing. A struggle to read fluently, but persist and you will get a free masterclass from a legend. A quality rom com, without any real rom.

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