Rating: 
Summary: Gen-Y pair can't fit in Allen film
Review: In "Anything Else," Woody Allen stars as David Dobel, a much older mentor to a young and impressionable Jerry Falk, played by Jason Biggs. As the lights dim, the audience is ushered into the latest Allen production by the sound of retro music. Also typical of the writer and director's films, the movie is set in Manhattan. Much of the film is comprised of Allen staples. In fact, the only two things that seem to be out of place are the main characters, Biggs as Falk and Christina Ricci as Amanda. It is as if the casting agent blindly picked out two of the most popular teenybopper actors of today and threw them into the movie without regard for subject matter, dialogue or context. Amanda and Jerry live in the latter's apartment, which is inexplicably inhabited by old furnishings, better suited for a lower middle class grandmother. The audience is never told why the young couple's abode is decorated in such a manner, nor does it add anything to the script. Ikea, many a poor, post-graduate's favorite interior designer, would have provided a more believable and far less distracting setting, if the target audience is the latest crop of boy band chasers. This kind of uneasy dichotomy seems to run through the whole movie. The young stars seem to have been picked to draw in a younger audience. Yet, everything else is old. Allen is old, the furniture is old, and the music is old. Even Amanda and Falk's tastes are old by today's Gen-Y standards. In a scene set in the Village Vanguard, the couple discuss Humphrey Bogart, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. As Diana Krall ends a song, Amanda remarks that, "She is so moving." Later, Jerry tries to woo Amanda in a music store by offering to purchase her a vinyl album of Cole Porter music. Allen's script is wholly mismatched for Biggs and Ricci. The work is better suited for more mature actors and audiences. It's what one would expect of an Allen love-child with the producers of "Dawson's Creek" except there aren't any compelling and contrived dramas. The film plods along with several different plotlines running and never quite meeting or making a solid point. It's almost like watching a disjointed reality television show about a random guy's life without having all the boring parts edited out. Even the normally seductive and conniving Ricci is reduced to being a neurotic and body obsessed female with a gratingly whiny voice. To Allen's credit, he does provide a few laughs with his writing. True to form, much of the movie is comprised of quick banter between the characters. Lines like "There was something compelling about your apathy," and "Don't be so middle class," are gems only Allen himself could dream up. However, these highlights may not compel audiences to choose this film. If you overhear someone saying that he wants to see "anything else," don't be surprised if he actually means he want to see anything --other than the movie of the same name.
Rating: 
Summary: Allen's Attempt to Attract a New Audience
Review: Take a look at the artwork on the front of the case..it looks like a romantic comedy. Unfortunately after picking up this movie and taking it home, some people will see that is it anything but...or at least it isn't a romantic comedy in the strict sense of being a "chick flick". I like Allen's well read, broad vocabulary character Dobel...laugh out loud scenes galore with this guy. The use of Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci (even Jimmy Fallon) help the aging Allen bond with a new generation of viewers. There are many people who marry right out of college and fall on circumstances not unlike the woes of Falk. The mother also shows an air of "youth lost" or symbolizes a fountain of youth seeker. The dynamic of these characters together prove the movie is targeting a younger audience. I mean, Allen smashing car windows and handling a rifle?!? LOL That's reaching for him. The story is not a mid-life crisis story as Allen is famous for...and I find that quite refreshing. True, the movie is about overcoming complacency and bad situations, but it is also very hopeful and positive in terms of moving on. Perfect movie for "twentysomethings."
Rating: 
Summary: Woody Allen Post-9/11
Review: This is Woody Allen for the post-9/11 world, a world and a New York still funny and neurotic and overly preoccupied with love and death, but whose paranoia seems now more than justified. There is much to recommend this film: the great typically Allenesque comic dialogue; the wonderful songs of Billie Holiday; the beautiful, little-heard Peggy Lee ballad given a heart-wrenching reading by Stockard Channing (part of a fine, quirky performance); Danny DeVito's over-the-top scene in the restaurant... Contrary to what you may have read, the leads do a fine job here, and the character played by Allen himself is at once hilarious and disturbing and most fun to watch and listen to. His scenes with Jason Biggs, many showing off the beauty of Central Park in summer, by themselves are worth the price of admission.
Rating: 
Summary: Kill It Before It Breeds!
Review: I wish I was as clever as Roger Ebert. Love him or hate him, you must admit he can write a great review. I bet he could come up with at least a 30 or 40-word sentence to tell you what I am telling you here in four words: I HATE THIS MOVIE! There, I said it. Yes, I have warned you, but the cruel side of me wants you to see it, just so we can talk about how horrible it is. The characters are sooooooo annoying, your blood will boil as you watch, and you will struggle to:
A) Finish the movie.
B) Finish the movie without wanting to throttle each and every character on the screen!
C) Hire a private investigator to hunt down Woody Allen and, um, well, make HIM watch it!
D) Decide to side with Mia Farrow after all!
Rating:
Summary: WOODY'S BIG FAT BOMB
Review: Jason Biggs plays Woody Allen and Woody Allen plays Woody Allen in ANYTHING ELSE (Universal). That's two too many right there. He directed and wrote this as well. So he must take the blame. maybe it was all a ruse so he could watch cute Christina Ricci wander around in her underwear. There's a ton of talk in this sad misfire of a film and it finally adds up to nothing. It felt like it was 10 hours long. You have been warned.
Rating:
Summary: A welcome return to form after some duds
Review: Having been disappointed with Allen's most recent efforts (I couldn't even get through 'Hollywood Ending'), this was a really pleasant surprise. I suppose it can be classed as a comedy drama, like many of Allen's films - and here the two elements are cleanly divided as the story unfolds of young comedy writer Jerry Falk (American Pie's Jason Biggs) and his beautiful but flakey girlfriend Amanda (Christina Ricci). They provide most of the drama, while Allen as Jerry's pal and svengali David Dobell provides the comedy as he passes on esoteric advice and commentary intermittently during their walks in Central Park. One strange facet of Allen's character here is that apart from being erudite and well-read, he is also supposed to suffer from a slight mental illness: Allen's portrayal is strangely endearing in this regard, although whether this is deliberate and subtle acting I'm not too sure. Perhaps he will now appear slightly eccentric in all his future performances. In fact this device is just a way for Allen to carry out his usual trick of giving himself the best lines which occasionally have a surreal element - and which are generally very funny, so it's good to see Allen's comedic skills haven't deserted him. It's also refreshing to find he has finally given up on using himself as the romantic interest and passed that torch onto younger cast members. I got the feeling that Allen has turned a corner with this film, hopefully heralding an Indian Summer for him. A couple of small things make it notable: first, it was shot in 2.35:1 widescreen (the first genuine widescreen Allen film since Manhattan), second, it is the first film in which Allen's age is specified in the script - Jerry describes him in the first five minutes as being 60, a slight understatement, but hey, at least it's something. Maybe this age-reference is significant, but I do know that Allen looks incredibly young in this film: apart fom hair transplants has he had any nips and tucks? He looks younger than in Annie Hall in some close-ups, which is rather strange. There are also strange references and homages to earlier films: Dobell drives around in a sports car (here bright red) which is identical to that bought by Michael Murphy in Manhattan, while Jerry arranges a 'chance' meeting with Amanda rather as Michael Caine's character does with Barbara Hershey in Hannah And Her Sisters. The three principals essentially have the film to themselves: Stockard Channing as Amanda's boozy mother appear only briefly, so while Ricci's and Allen's performances are spot-on, I have a few doubts about Jason Biggs. Most of the time he is very believable and pleasing as a young comedy writer but occasionally his inexperience can surface when his timing is a little off and he seems to be reciting the lines rather than delivering them conversationally. Anything Else has been describes as Annie Hall II - and while it's not in that film's class, it does take you on a journey which leaves you feeling satisfied as the credits roll. I really recommend this one for Allen fans. DVD-wise, this is a good release as all Allen's films tend to be. The 2.35:1 image is superb: crisp and sharp with no artefacts or edge enhancements. The usual Allen green-brown palette for clothes and furnishings is leavened occasionally by bright colours: Allen's scarlet shirt in an early scene is rock-solid with no bleeding. One sequence where Jerry spies on Amanda at dusk portrays the light very accurately, with no grain at all. This is a top notch transfer. As for sound, this is Allen's usual mono soundtrack, with all the dialogue coming crisply from the centre speaker and ambient jazz occasionally using the other fronts. No action from the rear speakers, but there's no need for them in this film at all. So a very nice soundtrack indeed. The disc also has a welcome first, a DVD extra which (incredibly) actually has some input from the writer/director: it's only a production note on a few screens, but we do get some quotes from Biggs and Ricci - as well as Allen himself giving information about the casting process.
Rating:
Summary: Worse than a middle school play
Review: I gave this movie an open mind through the end. The story itself is decent, but the acting is terrible. Ricci and Biggs seem uncomfortable and rigid in their interactions and delivery of their lines. Neither one seems to buy into their role or really understand their respective characters. I felt like I was watching a middle school production of West Side Story or something. Other characters, including Ricci's mom and Woody Allen, are solid but just can't make up for the lame performances of the 2 leads.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Woody Since 'Deconstructing Harry'
Review: ... and the first 'original' Allen picture since the still-wonderful "Annie Hall," from '77. For those with the ability to get past the central casting (some just can't buy Ricci and Biggs talking about Billie Holiday), this variation on Allen's neurotics-in-love presents the familiar material from a truly fresh perspective for the first time since the 1977 classic: Its almost a goodbye to the neurotic New York milieu, a refutation of the themes of seasonal rebirth and human foibles that Allen has been working over and over (often to fine effect) since "Annie Hall." If fact, "Anything Else" could almost be the anti-"Annie Hall": Thirty years on, the neurotic girlfriend no longer seems as sweet as Diane Keaton, but rather as barbed and dangerous as the big-eyed Ricci. Even Danny DeVito's sweet loser of an agent (which Allen played himself in "Broadway Danny Rose")gets mercilessly rebuked. For those with enough patience for the Allen vibe, "Anythign Else" was one of 2003's biggest surprises, and near return-to-form for one of the country's great filmmakers.
Rating:
Summary: Was this an Annie Hall remake?
Review: I just watched this film and Annie Hall on consecutive days - but I watched Anything Else first. In many ways, it is the same movie. It's not the same story, but it has a lot of the same gags and themes. The big difference I see between the two stories is that, while the Annie Hall character is quite likable, the Amanda character (Christina Ricci) is despicable. Conversely, while the Alvi character (Woody Allen) in "Annie Hall" remained just as neurotic, fearful, and stubborn in the end as he was in the beginning, the equivalent Jerry character (Jason Biggs) in "Anything Else" manages to break away from everything that's wrong with his life in NYC and move onto an uncertain yet exciting future. I thought that was an uncharacteristicly hopeful ending to a Woody Allen movie. In the end, though, it's not a great film by any means. The story moves very slowly, Ricci's comedy timing is dreadful, and Biggs' acting seems like a very transparent homage to Woody. So, are these two young actors simply too limited in their acting talents to pull it off, or is Allen so set in his ways that he insisted they act the way they did? Do you even care?
Rating: 
Summary: Worth Seeing If You're A Fan of Allen's Work
Review: This is not one of Woody Allen's best films but he has never made a bad one as far as I am concerned. This is an entertaining film for the true fan. The only real problem with the film is Allen's casting of Jason Biggs in the lead role. He is a terrible actor and a poor youthful substitute to fill Allen's shoes. The saving grace of this film is Christina Ricci. She plays a thoroughly unlikeable character but she plays it with style and range. She also comes off the most attractive I have ever seen her in a film. Danny De Vito does a great job as well. Allen's scenes toward the end are particularly strong. The ending is one of Allen's best. Genuinely touching. I just think that the miscasting of Biggs in the pivotal lead role really hurts the film overall.
| 
