Love and Death (rewatch)

In putting together my top 100, I tried hard to avoid thinking of it in terms of movies that “should” or “shouldn’t” make the list.  But sometimes you get into your own head about such things and forget to follow your gut.  Woody Allen has always been one of my favorite directors and there’s so many of his films I enjoy watching.  I felt I had to include one of them on my list… and that furthermore, it shouldn’t be Annie Hall because that would be (*gasp*) too obvious.  But now having rewatched, after seven years, what I thought was my favorite, I realize that I actually like Annie Hall the most.  And I’m not even sure that one would make my top 100.

Which isn’t really a knock against any of his films.  It isn’t that I no longer love Woody Allen, that I’ve “grown out” of his movies or anything like that.  I’ve just become too familiar with them, to the point where they’re yielding fewer rewards.  It happens, especially with comedies.  The gags and lines lose their punch as the element of surprise fades.  I could list some of the things that are hilarious about Love and Death, but they don’t get the same laughs from me that they used to (besides, they wouldn’t be nearly as funny out of context).

If you like Woody Allen at all and for some reason haven’t seen this film, you should.  It’s really good, I promise.  A fruitful mix of intelligent, literate wit and silly slapstick.  I just think it’ll be a long time before I watch it again.  Rating: Great (90)

IMDb