Am I the Only Movie Buff Who Didn't Like Annie Hall?

I write this review with trepidation because I am about to confess that I was not impressed with Annie Hall. I've heard the movie is iconic, and a post-viewing investigation revealed that it has an average rating of five stars here and an astonishing 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. So I know I'm in the minority here. But I watched it with my parents the other night, and while I laughed a few times, mostly I wondered what all the fuss was about.

Maybe I just don't like Woody Allen all that much. Maybe I find it annoying that Alvy, the neurotic, pessimistic, rambling nerd he portrays, is constantly addressing the audience directly. I didn't like it when David Spade did it in The Emperor's New Groove, and I don't like it here. Maybe I'm concerned that I see myself in the nervous little boy in the flashback who can't do his homework because he's worried about the universe imploding. I hate to give the guy a hard time since he already seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, but I sure hope I haven't grown up to be like him.

Maybe I just don't find the romance between him and Annie (Diane Keaton) particularly touching or hilarious. Maybe it strikes me as tedious that a majority of his conversations seem to be about sex. Maybe I don't like the way the film jumps around between flashbacks, real-time and imaginary scenarios, sometimes without any clear indication of what is happening. Maybe the whole thing feels dated. Maybe I feel stupid because I just don't get it. Maybe it's all of those things. Maybe it's more.

That's not to say that I didn't get any enjoyment out of the movie. I did laugh aloud sometimes at Alvy's dry observations, and I thought some of the film devices were clever, such as the brief interlude with him as a cartoon character interacting with the queen from Snow White and the scene in which he daydreams about conjuring up Marshall McLuhan to silence an obnoxious faux-intellectual fellow filmgoer.

And it's fun to pick out not-yet-famous folks in minor roles: Jeff Goldblum as a guest at a party, Sigourney Weaver as one of Alvy's dates, John Glover as one of Annie's former flames, Christopher Walken as her intense, probably psychotic brother. And of course, I was keeping my eyes peeled for Paul Simon. It took him a long time to show up, but he finally did, and it was a treat to see him exercise his acting chops, which I've previously seen him do on Saturday Night Live with hilarious results.

While the film doesn't feel terribly edgy considering the sort of stuff that shows up on prime time television every night, I was nonetheless a bit surprised that it was only rated PG. Of course, the significance of ratings seems to have shifted somewhat since then. When I see "PG," I automatically think "family movie". This isn't. It's inappropriate for kids, and frankly, I think most would be bored stiff. However, there's really not much profanity or nudity or any of the other criteria to push it up to the next level, since "PG-13" didn't exist back then.

I'm not sorry I rented Annie Hall, but I would never buy it and have no desire to watch it again. I suspect I'm missing the point. Maybe I don't care.