[.ca] Anything Else

From Amazon.com:
Christina Ricci invigorates an even-more-neurotic-than-usual variation on the classic neurotic woman in this Woody Allen movie. Comedy writer Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs, American Pie) is madly in love with Amanda (Ricci, The Opposite of Sex), even though they haven't had sex in six months. Falk meets an older writer named Dobel (Allen) who becomes a sort of accidental mentor, encouraging him to break free of Amanda and his clinging agent (Danny DeVito). The pace is sluggish, almost every scene feels like an outtake from an earlier, better Woody Allen movie (particularly Annie Hall), Biggs never seems comfortable with his dialogue--only Ricci makes her character her own, giving her own perverse comic spin to the proceedings. About three-fourths of the way through the movie, the story starts to feel fresher and more compelling, but by then it's too late. Also featuring Jimmy Fallon and Stockard Channing. --Bret Fetzer

Woody: The Exterminating Angel:
Woody Allen's films have been gifts, balms, salves in my life - when every other thing that happens around me seems to be a knock on Camus' door of unhappiness. His films may appear to be more and more flawed - but not to me. Robert Motherwell said, " All of my life I've been working the work...Each picture is only an approximation of what you want...you can never make the absolute statement, but the desire to do so as an approximation keeps you going. " Think about Woody Allen's career as a film maker - and perhaps this movie will not stand out, but there are qualities in it that do. Imagine a retrospective of the best moments of Woody's films, like the coda-retrospectives in some of them ( Annie Hall ) - it would be an amazing collage of scenes and lines that we remember and quote and are reminded of every day. It is hard to like Anything Else. Christina Ricci's character, no matter how well-played, no matter how agreeable she is to look at, is unbearable. I rented the movie, and had to turn it off now and then, because I couldn't understand why Jason Biggs didn't hand her her hat or strangle her. Were it not for Woody's character, I may have cancelled the movie. Dobel ( Allen ) is so nimble-minded, clever in scathing thought ( I'll quote his comment about vomiting in Carnegie Hall to my college art students ) that I would have been satisfied by the scenes of Jason and Woody alone. They both stammer. Woody, like Jimmy Stewart, has made stammering an art. If you have a problem with one actor stammering, get ready. Jerry Falk ( Biggs ) can't get through a thought without an eraser. The music is perfect. The sly references will please those who grasp them, and alienate those who don't. Some are just slivers: a couple exit a movie house and we hear the man say something about why didn't the dinner guests just get up and leave? Woody is honoring Luis Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel, and sending a little Valentine to those in the audience who know it. There are no special effects, eviscerations, frontal nudity, car chases --- just people talking with people about what ( some ) people talk about. These are my favorites movies. Anything Else won't get high mention in Woody's obituary - but I dare you not to be amused every time Jason appears in his therapist's office - or not to add Dobel to the list of nuanced visionaries and nutcakes that Woody has created and given to us.

Woody Allens, "Woody Allen XXVI":
As in most of his movies, Woody Allen tapped into the most sacred thing he could find for inspiration - himself. It was a fairly typical Woody Allen movie, composed of Woody Allen himelf, characters that were Woody Allen in essence, a sprinkling of poignant racism, and the females that Woody Allen really wants to sleep with, but never really could, and makes up for in his own private fantasies. Despite the fact that the actors and actresses had big names, the acting was horrible, because not everyone is Woody Allen and/or meant to act EXACTLY like him. Again, like most Woody Allen films, he focused on his expert "advice," along with a few completely meaningless jokes, simply added to show how "funny" he really is. I would have to say, however, that this film would be loved by any Woody Allen fan, as it is pretty much the same, give or take a few big names and scenes, as all of his other films. I can understand and almost sympathize with some people for finding enjoyment in Woody Allens intense vocabulary and interesting tastes, and even some who are infatuated with the same sort of hopeless sexual fantasies that he drums up; but two stuttering, insecure "meeks" who have plans to "inherit the Earth" where just a bit too much for me to stomach for all 38 hours of this 1 hour and 45 minute long movie.

Not as good:
Anything else id not as good as Allen's other. The neurotic character is more in Biggs character, than in Allen's. Biggs is like a young Allen, and it's not that great. Besides that the movie is pretty funny, not rolling on the floor funny, but funny.

Not Like His "Earlier, Funnier Movies":
Woody Allen has never failed to amuse - until now. This story seems like a rehashed Allen film with a new actor portraying the neurotic Woody. Jason Biggs just doesn't fit the part. He's awkward in the wrong way. Ricci survives slightly more, but still has trouble delivering that Woody Allen female lead brashness that is so vital in most of his films. Even the story is hackneyed and there are very few surprises. Devito puts in his usual manic performance and gives a rather funny performance in a restaurant feigning a heart attack, but that's about it. Suddenly, I am finding I don't want his "earlier, funnier movies". One can only be sure that his next film has to be better.

Insert audible sigh here:
Let's be honest and upfront about this. I love Woody Allen movies and always have, right up through his last truly great film, Bullets Over Broadway. Since then, it's been scattershot. Mighty Aphrodite and Everyone Says I Love You were okay. Hollywood Ending wasn't that bad. Deconstructing Harry was an interesting change of pace. Other than that, I can't say that I've enjoyed any of his more recent films. Celebrity, Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - nearly unwatchable. It almost seems like he's phoning it in. So turning to Anything Else, it appears that he might have learned some lessons from his previous efforts by removing himself as the romantic lead. Thankfully - who wants to see Woody wooing Christina Ricci? And also thankfully, he gave himself a part that is actually the best one in the film. His wisecracking Dobel generates most of the genuine laugh moments in the plot alongside an under-used Danny DeVito. Unfortunately, since Woody is not playing the main "Woody" character, it's left to Jason Biggs to more or less assume the persona which gave me some qualms, especially remembering Kenneth Branagh's Woody impersonation in Celebrity. Surprisingly, Biggs pulls it off without lapsing into caricature but it's hard to digest that a twenty-something man would just happen to possess all of the neuroses and cultural tastes of Woody Allen as we have come to know him. The same goes for Christina Ricci. She doesn't do anything horrible in the film but her character becomes very tiresome very quickly and while it enhances the comedy elements surrounding Biggs's character, it's probably not the best idea for a romantic comedy to make one half of the loving pair so annoying. Stockard Channing is also a wonderful actress with an interesting character who doesn't get enough screen time. I know that a lot of actors make sacrifices just for the sake of being in a Woody Allen movie, but some deserve more when they achieve something. I mentioned Danny DeVito earlier - his scene in the restaurant and Stockard Channing's when she plays the piano are gems. Fortunately for the film, Jason Biggs can do subtle comedy and his character generates a lot of empathy. Hopefully Woody has found a new niche for himself in his films as a major supporting character. Dobel allows Woody to lapse back into some of his early career schtick without crossing the line that made most of us cringe at some of his more recent work. Just in looking at the advertising and PR for this film, one would never know that it was a Woody Allen movie and it's a shame that it's come to the point where his name might be construed as a negative.