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| Name: Ryan Roe Email: prawnrr-rmv@this.com-yahoo.com Position: Movie / Television / Comic Book / Trivia Geek View Ryan's Personal Profile |
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| Anything Else is about young aspiring writer, Jerry, whose relationship with neurotic Amanda has many ups and downs… but more downs. I didn’t even mean to buy a ticket to this movie. I walked up to the box office, and the girl said, “Do you want a ticket for Dickie Roberts?” And I said, “No way! I’d rather see anything else!” No, I’m just kidding. I was eager to see this film because it’s the latest from Woody Allen, although you wouldn’t know that from the ads for it. Apparently DreamWorks thinks they can better reach the kids with this movie by making it look like it’s just a romantic comedy starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci. They may be right, especially since many of the movie-going young’uns (young’uns over 17, that is; this movie is rated R) are still under the mistaken impression that Woody Allen is some guy who married his daughter. I did see some people my age at the theatre, and I considered warning them that Biggs would probably not go anywhere near a pie in the film, but I thought better of it. If this film is very successful, they could consider going a step further--maybe Allen’s next film should be credited to Johnny Knoxville. People have criticized Woody because he’s lately cast himself, a 60-something year-old man, as love/lust interest for such actresses as Tea Leoni, Debra Messing, Julia Roberts and Helena Bonham Carter. Now, you can't blame a guy for wanting to act opposite some hot young womens, but it was getting a bit weird, and I was a little worried his next movie girlfriend might be played by Hilary Duff or an Olsen twin (pick one). In Anything Else he’s figured out a great way to avoid being creepy, while still giving himself a good role and some funny lines. He plays David Dobel, another aspiring writer who’s a friend and mentor to Biggs. If Allen is going to continue acting in his movies, he should keep casting himself this way, so the audience is saying, “Ha ha ha!” instead of, “Ehhhh…” I’m not a very big fan of Jason Biggs, or should I say I’m not a very Biggs fan. I was very unimpressed with American Pie, and the guy just seems like a dork. In Anything Else, he plays the neurotic New York guy role that Woody Allen himself played in his younger days. Like Edward Norton in Everyone Says I Love You, he often seems to be attempting a Woody Allen impression, but he actually makes it sound natural most of the time, more often than Norton did. He does seem a little young to have all those neuroses though. Christina Ricci is perfect as usual, and Danny DeVito makes the most of his small role. Of course, it could be argued that everything Danny DeVito does is a small role. The directing is good, with a few of the long takes Woody Allen often uses. I’ve never heard of his cinematographer Darius Khondji (and that’s a name you don’t forget), but the city of New York is shot quite nicely, especially Central Park, with all its bridges and arches and tunnels and trees… It made me want to go back to Central Park and walk around, and wonder where the ducks go when the lake freezes, and buy a hot dog of indeterminable content. I couldn’t help but notice Anything Else’s similarities to Annie Hall. It’s likely that this was deliberate on Allen’s part. Not that he’s trying to repeat his past commercial success, because I really don’t think he cares about box office. (Does he care about anything besides his clarinet and Soon-Yi? Not necessarily in that order.) But he might have been trying to see what would happen if he took some of the ideas of Annie’s “nervous romance” and put them in a contemporary setting. And for my money, it worked. IMDb already lists a “Woody Allen Fall 2004 Project." Man, I wish I had that guy’s work ethic. Anyway, let’s hope it’s as good as Anything Else. On my scale of Yay!/Yeah…/Yecch!, this one gets a Yay! Comments on this post are closed. |
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