Review of Bananas (1971) by Paul Z — 03 Feb 2009

Bananas is funny in a way that was far ahead of its time, 1971, in not only the way it deals it topical humor but also in how clever its portrayal of reality is. Like Allen's preceding two films, What's Up, Tiger Lily? and Take the Money and Run, Bananas has a silly sense of humor that gets off on stupidity. It took a lot of risks in a time when movies were not at all funny the way this film is. I can't think of any movies that were made back then that had sight gags like the ones in Bananas, or the brilliant satire of standard conversation. Like any comedy that is 100% screwball, it has its parts that fall flat, and many of them happen in a row, but there are so many huge laughs, especially in the courtroom scene.

Whoever views Bananas after seeing many of Allen's later works---actually from Annie Hall to the present---will be surprised at the difference in his earlier screen persona to that of the immutable style he's had since Annie Hall in 1977. He's still the antithesis of suave or confident, but he allows himself to at least indulge in the delusions of being so at times. Louise Lasser, his first wife, plays opposite him in only this film, and though she has a couple of good scenes, she doesn't even compare, or even make the try-outs for comparison, to Diane Keaton.