Release Year: 1977

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Director: Woody Allen

Writer: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts

Ever wish you had a time machine? Let's say that you fail your chemistry test. What if you could travel back to the night before and pinpoint the exact reasons why? (Spoiler alert: It was all those hours you spent playing Fallout 4 instead of studying.)

You might not be able to change the past, but you could learn from your mistakes and become unstoppable, or at least more enlightened... right?

In Annie Hall, Alvy Singer creates a vibrant, hilarious fantasy life that allows him to do just that. Through flashbacks, conversations with his childhood self, and even spontaneously turning into a cartoon character, he solves the mystery of what went wrong with Annie Hall, the girl who got away.

Annie Hall stormed movie theaters in the spring of 1977 and raked in $38,251,425 (which ain't bad for a sophisticated, dialogue-heavy romantic comedy that cost only $4 million to produce). And, adjusted for inflation, Annie Hall's box office haul is over $139 million dollars, making it Woody Allen's most successful movie of all time by far.

But Annie Hall didn't just do a bang-up job at the box office. It was also a critical smash. The movie was nominated for five Oscars: Best Original Screenplay for Allen and his co-writer Marshall Brickman, Best Actor and Best Director for Allen, Best Actress for co-star Diane Keaton, and Best Picture.

And Allen was in good company (even if he didn't actually attend the awards ceremony). In the end, Annie Hall went four-for-five, walking away with everything but the award for Best Actor—and beating out a little arthouse picture called Star Wars.

Allen and Keaton were household names when Annie Hall arrived, but if you look closely, you'll also spot several future Hollywood heavyweights in some of their first big-screen appearances, including a pre-Ripley Sigourney Weaver, a pre-chaos theory Jeff Goldblum, and, most memorably, Christopher Walken as Annie's thoroughly creepy little bro.

Annie Hall's neurotic look at life and love was Allen's breakout film. His star as a filmmaker was already on the rise when the movie was released, but the simultaneously gut-busting and sensitive comedy sent his stock soaring—and it created the template for Allen's work to come. Writes film critic Devin Faraci:

The easy answer to "What's the best Woody Allen movie?" is Annie Hall […] the movie's basic truths are just as wonderfully observed today as they were almost forty years ago.

In short, if you only watch one Allen flick, this is the one to watch, to ponder, and to endlessly quote—to family, friends, your lacrosse coach, and pretty much everybody… even if they, like Woody Allen, "don't speak shellfish."

Annie Hall is the granddaddy of modern romantic comedies. Without Annie Hall, Harry never meets Sally, Bridget Jones never buys a diary, and Julia Roberts is never just a girl, standing in front of Hugh Grant, asking him to love her.

Before Annie Hall, romantic comedies were all hearts and unicorns: They were entertaining, sure, but they weren't very realistic. Alvy's and Annie's complicated, often messy relationship was a game-changer.

"The film is… one of the best romantic comedies ever," argues Paste magazine's Jeremy Medina, "simply because it takes the time to show all of the moments that happen in a relationship—the wide spectrum of happy and sad, of bittersweet and just plain bitter" (source).

In its refreshingly realistic take on a love affair, Annie Hall established the notion that maybe it is just like esteemed Canadian poet Alan Thicke once wrote: "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have the facts of life."

Simply put, in Annie Hall, love isn't pretty. It's neurotic. It's full of lobster home invasions, out-of-body experiences, jealousy, heartache, anger, and lots and lots of butt-hurt feelings. But it's genuine.

The stars aren't gorgeous, glamorous babes. The sex is kind of awkward. Both Annie with her low confidence and la-di-da-ing and Alvy with his crazed, semi-pretentious chattering can be kind of obnoxious—even though they're also one of the most adorable and hilarious couples this side of Bill and Ted of Excellent Adventure fame. (They were together, right?)

In short, Annie Hall was the first romantic comedy that reflected what relationships were really, truly like. And sometimes the truth hurts… even if it is milk-through-your-nostrils funny.