Anything Else (2003)

The greatest movie ever!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Great Film overall

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Christina Ricci's the sexiest most gorgeous girl ever. Her panty scenes in this are intense. This is a miniature, Woody Allen, Danny DeVito, Christina Ricci inspired review. Jason Biggs looks like an NFL linebacker in this. Is that that funny, not really. Did I really need to add that last line about Jason, not really. Now is my review all that miniature, not really, just like Christina. Is there anything else, not really, oh just one more thing, I love Christiiiiiinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

At around 6.5. From what I've seen, the gist of an IMDb Woody Allen rating is that you can add two points to the film if you're a fan, and subtract two points if you're not.My first time seeing this on the small screen, through a sequential re-viewing of the entire works (most of which I'd seen before, but not this one). Of course it has some great lines, deep existential truths and some perfectly observed moments. This is why I would watch any Woody film, you never leave empty. On the other hand, Allen's tendency to ventriloquise any protagonist that isn't him is in full effect with Biggs not really up to the character's dialogue as written (whether this is a problem with writing, acting or casting doesn't really matter). Also, the early script often drags, as Allen's tendency to hammer home a relationship dynamic in the character setup makes for a lot of work in the first part of the film. I guess non-fans might be turned off by the lack of likable characters.In the end though, this one contained some gems in the writing; and insight into the way the world provides you with plenty of impetus to conform to a bad situation, but very little to move to a better one. Don't usually like to write a spoiler, but for me the obvious twist left undone in Allen's assault on authority is that HE should have ended up dating Ricci's character while sending Falk off for 'his own good'. As it is, Allen gave himself the easy out. He's a prick like that. But also one of the best film-makers that ever lived.

Anyone not interested in seeing a morose, persistently pessimistic outlook on life should never see a Woody Allen movie. I have loved almost everything he has done since Annie Hall and have even come to later appreciate the sheer boldness and zaniness of early comedies like Sleeper and Love & Death. What I didn't expect, but should have, was how depressing Allen's movies would become as time wore on.Aside from the funny and charming light comedy Small Time Crooks, the 2000's must have been a bad decade for Woody Allen. His dark worldview is never more prevalent than Anything Else, which follows the relationship between a young, neurotic writer and his unpredictable girlfriend. The story is very reminiscent of a Woody Allen movie from the 1970s like Annie Hall or Manhattan. However, Allen has improved his game by no longer casting himself as the lead role, but here casting the very talented Jason Biggs to play the nervous, conscientious writer who finds himself with a girlfriend so unreliable and bizarre that he has to come up with new tactics everyday to keep up and understand her unusual logic and thinking. Biggs and Christina Ricci are both very good in playing roles Allen and Diane Keaton perfected 30 years prior. Indeed, the whole cast has a real smart edge to them that keeps the audience engaged and on the edge of their seat.There isn't much to say about the rest of the film, other than to see it and be careful before seeing it. Woody Allen, like so many other great directors in cinema history, is an acquired taste. Like Bergman, Kubrick, Welles or Wilder, he is so unique and individualistic in the way he creates characters and situations that it makes perfect sense if someone tells me they don't care for Woody Allen movies. I must confess, his last few films have become so negative and pessimistic in their outlook and message that it makes me feel very depressed. And yet, his films are always interesting. Despite his usual downbeat material, Allen is not without reason and it makes for a very interesting debate and thought-provoking discussion if you can find someone. The message of this film is that life is so inexplicable that so often you cannot even try to explain why and how things happen. Though I wish I could, I cannot disagree with that thinking and it is because of this that I continue to seek out Woody Allen films.

It's boring. And if you're accustomed of Woody Allen's world, then it's very boring ! God. Here you are the same characters, places, behaviors, stories, music all over again. I thought at some point that it's just a remake of many clips from Allen's previous movies done with newcomers !Doesn't this man get out much, or see some people other than himself ?!! It's crazy how nearly all of his movies are nothing but rounds and rounds in his so closed, high-strung, one-note self. I'm feeling dizzy already ! And as if it's not enough to have the same Woody in all of his movies, now we have 2 Woodys; the original one along with a clone of him as well. (Jason Biggs) wasn't acting as Woody only, he was acting Woody himself, while the real one was acting (Dobel); which while being a more interesting character, is another face for the same high-strung, one-note man. It can't get more subjective than this ! So, it's boring, I have seen and hear all of that before. It's monotones, it feels all the time like one extended line running uninterruptedly in a screen of Polygraph in some icu (yeah, the one that tells us that the patient is dead!). And it's silly where there is nothing remotely funny about it (even the psychiatrist wasn't utilized as it should). I thought it's a movie about commitment and relationships, but it ended up being about the noisy confusion of Woody Allen about commitment and relationships, with nothing new, thrilling, or amusing along the way; only a song performed by "Stockard Channing", a scene for "Danny DeVito", and a line at the end about listening to the advices of people, AND THAT'S IT ! If this movie says anything, then it says that despite lacking the charisma (Jason Biggs) can actually do things else Hollywood rubbish (none other than American Pie), (Darius Khondji)'s widescreen cinematography did a really rich addition to the same (Manhattan) of Woody, giving it a touch of glaring class and entertainingly aesthetical flavor this time, and finally it says that Woody must change, because clearly, and according to his very movies, he doesn't. He made his lead move on at the end, well dear.. move on yourself ! The truth is Allen wrote (Annie Hall) again, poorly, just to add the character of (Dobel) in it. It would have been much much better if he wrote another movie, with or without (Dobel) in it. So, if you want to experience a negative version of (Groundhog Day), then watch most of Allen's movies lately. As for me, after (Anything Else) I'll stick to anything else for a long time !