Anything Else
Cast
Woody Allen .... David Dobel
Jason Biggs .... Jerry Falk
Stockard Channing .... Paula
Danny DeVito .... Harvey
Jimmy Fallon .... Bob Styles
Directed by
Woody Allen
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
6/10. Although I haven't seen all of his earlier work, I consider myself to
be as big of a Woody Allen fan as the next. I haven't been blown away
by his recent attempts, but I didn't hate them, and found them
(especially Hollywood Ending) funny and amusing, which is basically
what his most recent movie, Anything Else, is. It's nothing new or
groundbreaking, nothing setting a precedent for other movies to
follow like some of Allen's golden movies. It's just a pleasant way
to spend two hours.
Allen's fatal mistake, however, was to let Dreamworks bill Anything
Else as a teen comedy, with names like Jason Biggs and Christina
Ricci filling up the poster. It's anything but. It stars teen comedy
actors, but the relationship is nowhere near what most teen comedies
depict them to be: it's more than just sex. It's not even that
romantic, just a comedy. Also, teens wouldn't be attracted to
anything with Woody Allen in it, although they should be.
Jerry Falk (Biggs) is an aspiring comedy writer who lives with his
odd girlfriend Amanda (Ricci), who is an aspiring actress. Falk meets
with teacher-turned-part-time-comedy-writer David Dobel (Allen), who
gives him alternately advice and one-lines (my favorite has to be
Dobel talking about quantum physics: "So space and time is the same
thing? If you ask someone what time it is, they'll say `six
miles'?"). In addition, his shrink won't help Falk at all. Amanda
won't have sex with Falk for an unknown reason, leaving him even more
frustrated.
Just as often as Anything Else pops to life, it sizzles back down to
mediocrity. There are some true times of hilarity, but often there
are ten minute laughless stretches. What Allen has trouble with doing
in his recent movies is keeping the laughs at a regular pace and
making sure that his one-liners (which are usually great) keep in
line with the plot. As I mentioned, the jokes come in at random
times, and the one-liners are well placed.
It seems like Allen relied less on situational comedy for this movie.
There was one scene in particular where everything just "happened"
for comedy (when Amanda and her mother [Stockard Channing] walk in on
Falk and Dobel practicing Falk's new rifle), but that was about it.
It had a completely different feel from Hollywood Ending. I also
thought that the cinematography was almost too good for a silly
comedy like this one. Many scenes were one take, and it made the
movie feel almost like a play instead of a movie. That I really liked
about this movie.
Biggs was extremely good in his role: he wasn't great at his acting,
but he was exactly like a younger Woody Allen in all of his
mannerisms and his neuroticisms. Ricci did a great job, too, as the
over-the-top girlfriend. Speaking of over-the-top, Channing does
great in her over-the-top role. Allen is adequate, but, to tell the
truth, I wanted more of him then the love story between Biggs and
Ricci. He seemed a little different from the other characters he
played.
Anything Else is just like any recent Woody Allen comedy: opens to
mixed reviews, leaves theaters in a few weeks and makes a small debut
on DVD soon after. It's nothing new.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rated R for a scene of drug use and some sexual references.
Running time: 108 minutes
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