--- title: Annie Hall at 40: Read Original Movie Review From 1977 description: The Woody Allen film opened on April 20, 1977. The movie was at least as poignant as it was funny, said TIME's critic. canonical: https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T15:00:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:23:41.500Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Original 1977 Review of 'Annie Hall' og:description: "At least as poignant as it is funny" og:url: https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt900641fdfb5e7b0b/6988c2f3656a3f03dcbcf915/annie-hall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Annie Hall og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Original 1977 Review of 'Annie Hall' twitter:description: "At least as poignant as it is funny" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt900641fdfb5e7b0b/6988c2f3656a3f03dcbcf915/annie-hall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Annie Hall_ at 40: Read TIME's Original Review  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Woody Allen as Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton as Annie Hall in the film 'Annie Hall,' 1977. Woody Allen as Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton as Annie Hall in the film 'Annie Hall,' 1977.Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 20, 2017 3:00 PM UTC When _Annie Hall_ was released 40 years ago, on April 20, 1977, TIME’s critic Richard Schickel called the Woody Allen opus “a ruefully romantic comedy that is at least as poignant as it is funny and may be the most autobiographical film ever made by a major comic.” His review [proclaimed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-04-25/page/84/) in its headline that it was Allen’s “breakthrough movie.” Schickel made this case even though the movie was a departure from the routines for which Allen was best known at the time, including one-liners and self-deprecating gags. The film tells the story of the rise-and-fall romance between Alvy Singer (Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) and finds something profound in their mismatched outlooks on the world. And, in its specificity, Schickel found something universal: --- > “” --- [_Read more: TIME’s full 1977 review of_ Annie Hall](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-04-25/page/84/) Allen’s troubled personal life, including[ accusations](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/08/woody-allen-sex-abuse-dylan-farrow-response/) that he sexually abused his adopted daughter, have since [led](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/on-boycotting-woody-allens-films.html) [some](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/05/16/no-woody-allen-boycotts-we-need-to-confront-the-passes-we-used-to-give-him/?utm%5Fterm=.a1f3336442a3) viewers to [decide](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/woody-allen-film-cafe-society-cannes) not to watch his movies. (Allen has [denied](http://time.com/4188/woody-allen-dylan-farrow-mia-farrow-pawn/) the allegations of sexual abuse.) In 1977, however, the news about his new movie was mostly centered around its star, Keaton, rather than its filmmaker. Cinephiles of 1977 felt that they already knew Woody Allen, or at least his public persona, but TIME observed that — despite having worked in Hollywood for years, with several Allen movies and a few _Godfather_s under her belt — Keaton, who was also Allen’s ex, was still a cypher to audiences. In a [mini-profile ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-04-25/page/85/)of the actress that accompanied the review, and a subsequent[ cover story](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-09-26/page/1/) later that year, TIME revealed that there was a lot of Annie Hall in the actor who portrayed her. “Like Annie, Diane sees a shrink five times a week, and like Annie and Alvy, Diane and Woody decided to split three years ago.” But it was clear that there was still plenty to learn about her. “She is always afraid that she is never going to work again. She worries that she hasn’t earned her success,” Allen told TIME. “\[She\] will have no problem whatsoever performing. But she worries that she is not an interesting singer. Now she is worried about her role in my new film and worried that when she is older she will be one of those actresses who haven’t aged well.” Forty years later, as Keaton remains one of Hollywood’s biggest names, it’s clear that — at least in those departments — she had nothing to worry about. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/"},"headline":"Annie Hall at 40: Read TIME's Original Review","datePublished":"2017-04-20T15:00:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:23:41.500Z","description":"\"At least as poignant as it is funny\"","url":"https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/","keywords":["movies","woody allen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt900641fdfb5e7b0b/6988c2f3656a3f03dcbcf915/annie-hall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt900641fdfb5e7b0b/6988c2f3656a3f03dcbcf915/annie-hall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Annie Hall","caption":"Annie Hall","creditText":"Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4738433/annie-hall-1977-review/","name":"Annie Hall at 40: Read TIME's Original Review"}}]}] ```