Woody Allen Is Likable But Exhausting in Play It Again, Sam

Thanks to the wonders of Netflix and Amazon Prime, watching streaming movies is a regular pastime for my fiancé and me. Our first of the year was Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam. Aside from clips of other movies, my experience of Woody Allen has been mostly limited to Annie Hall, which I didn’t much like. While some of the same elements are present in this film, I generally found it to be fairly enjoyable.

Allen stars as Allan in this Herbert Ross-directed movie based on a play, both of which Allen wrote. Allan is a film critic whose world falls apart in the beginning of the movie after his wife ditches him. They’ve only been married a couple years, and she’s been miserable most of that time. At this point, I wanted to feel sorry for Allan, but it wasn’t hard to see why Nancy left him. He’s a total drip who neurotic rambling throughout the movie is absolutely exhausting.

Still, he’s managed to retain two very devoted friends, the married couple Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts). As soon as they hear of his troubles, they are at his side, and they remain that way for much of the movie. However, Dick is preoccupied with work, and toward the end of the movie, he goes on a business trip, leaving Allan and Linda alone together. While Allan attempts a couple of disastrous dates with women his friends select for him as possibilities, the only woman he has any real rapport with is Linda herself.

Their relationship is interesting to watch here. As stressful and complicated as the relationship between the central characters in Annie Hall is, this one is warm and friendly throughout, and Allan even manages to relax a bit while he’s around Linda. It turns out that when he is not so busy trying to win someone over, he’s actually rather charming in his own eccentric way, though the mental traps that cause him such trouble in his dating life rear their ugly heads when he begins to consider the prospect of an affair with Linda.

The most distinctive feature of this movie is the way it uses Humphrey Bogart as a foil and sort of coach for Allan. As he is a big Bogart fan with a particular fondness for Casablanca, Allan manufactures his own personal Bogey (Jerry Lacy), who advises him to follow in his own acerbic footsteps. Occasionally, an imaginary version of Nancy pops up as well to advise Allan in a softer direction. The movie abounds with quotes and references to Bogart movies, making it particularly fun for film buffs.

Play It Again, Sam has a bittersweet quality to it, and while some of Allan’s conversations with Bogey and Walter Mitty-esque daydreams are entertaining, his endless self-questioning prattle left me quite worn out. As I am prone to anxiety myself, watching him served as a reminder for me to rein myself in lest I drive others batty. Dick and Linda are affable and loyal, and the dynamics of their relationship add complexity to Allan’s struggle to figure himself out. He may make the journey more difficult than it needs to be, but it’s easy to hope that he will find his way eventually.

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.