Word: nebbishness
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WOODY ALLEN has finally become sexy. All right--maybe not exactly sexy. But certainly Allen's new film Annie Hallis our most appealing picture to date of the archetypal neurotic--now no longer pure nebbish--for whom life consists of only two categories: the horrible and the miserable. As Allen loses no time in pointing out, the miserable have, comparatively speaking, a lot to be grateful for--not the least of which is this funny, sad story of the romance of Alvy Singer (Allen) and equally neurotic Annie Hall (Diane Keaton, of course...
Harold Rappoport, as Mona, has the most subtle, trickiest emotional transition of the play to make. And he carries it off convincingly. In the first act he comes across as nothing but a gutless nebbish, passively accepting any manner of verbal humiliation. But in the second act he shows that he has remained vulnerable by his own choice, because there's a degree of sensitivity that he refuses to lose to the prisoners' tough conformity. When he finally refuses to let Smitty become his "old man," declaring with the Shakespeare sonnet that he cares too much for Smitty to play...
...have been a labor of love, filled with lofty purpose and deep emotion. Why, then, such a mediocre product? Although Allen and Mostel turn in excellent performances, neither are quite right for their roles. Allen particularly does not fit in a movie of this type. He is the classic nebbish, but the very qualities that contribute to his comic genius detract from the solemnity of the film. The mere sight of his face and sound of his voice, regardless of the unhumorous context, provokes laughter, interjecting unintentional but damaging levity...
...there before was a nebbish, but I think I like the way he wore his hair better. Didn't neglect it like this guy does. But I suppose it's benign. (Note: this is an obligatory joke, which may be skipped at the discretion of the reader...
...younger either, you can still give them all a second chance in the Winthrop House JCR this weekend. Charlie Brown, despite his advancing years, and despite the fact that newspapers are pushing both him and Jules Feiffer aside in favor of Doonesbury, is still young America's quintessential nebbish, every little boy's and girl's Woody Allen-writ small. Charles M. Schultz's cutesie-pie pop-psychological ponderings have been adapted for the stage by Clark Gesner...