David Ansen

“Annie Hall is based on Diane Keaton herself (her original name was Hall) but I don't think this makes that much difference. These impossible lovers, who bring to each other a prodigious collection of fears, defenses, insecurities and nervous laughter and who regularly repair to their respective shrinks like boxers between rounds, share the gift that Nick and Nora Charles had, or Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth: they know how to enjoy each other. [The gross lobster scene:] To watch Alvy and Annie struggling in their kitchen with a live lobster and then to see Alvy repeat his lobster routine with a date who can't appreciate his humor, is a hilariously painful illustration of the dynamics of sexual chemistry.”

“Diane Keaton should only work with Woody Allen. Embarrassingly strained in Harry and Walter Go to New York, shrill and flat in Godfather 2, when she performs for Allen something vulnerable, touching and wonderfully spontaneous emerges. It may not be great acting, but it has magic, and we end up liking this dizzy, tongue-tied woman just as much as Alvy does. Allen himself has never seemed more comfortable acting uncomfortable: there's a new conviction in the way he holds the screen….”

David Ansen
The Real Paper, May 7, 1977