So how do you like your eggs?

I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist
and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the
doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I
need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about
relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and...
but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the
eggs.

These are the parting thoughts from Alvy Singer, the main character in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Alvy is a New York comedian who falls in love with a girl named Annie Hall. The movie works as a narrative to all of Alvy’s relationships and his feelings towards love in general. If the quote above is any indication, he’s witty, funny, but a bit of a pessimist.

After having not really enjoyed watching Allen in Mighty Aphrodite, I must concede that I now can understand how great an actor he truly was/is. Annie Hall won best picture at the Oscars in 1977 (note: this is a Woody Allen about 20 years younger than his character in Mighty Aphrodite) and it’s easy to see why when you have such believable characters. Allen knows what kind of characters he is and he casts himself perfectly in Annie Hall (short, angry, witty, and Jewish).

But the thing that’s best about Annie Hall is how Allen depicts modern relationships and the crazy, memorable events we take out of them. The film ends with a montage of all the greatest scenes from Alvy and Annie’s life together. We see the first time the met at the tennis court, we see them struggle to make lobster for dinner after the lobsters break out of the bag, we see them try cocaine (which Alvy sneezes everywhere), and many other memories. Allen makes a valid point that relationships are irrational, crazy, and absurd, but he forgets that they’re also exciting, adventurous, and happy. And that’s why we need the eggs.