User reviews

Ok, the man is an establishment. That's what keeps this movie from being vague, shallow and void. Woody Allen can claim for himself his kind of movies, and nobody else does them like he does. So, when you see a Woody Allen movie, you know precisely what you are going to get, the difference being sometimes more surprised, and sometimes less. Well, here there's no surprise, except the way that Allen seeks new talent and awards them with the typical alter ego role. It's up to them to prove that they can handle it. Kenneth Branagh did it, John Cusack did it, and now Jason Biggs is the nervous new yorker who goes to psycho analysis. Well, it works, but the truth is that Biggs' character behaves like a 35-year-old trapped in a 21-year-old body. And the fact that some of the movie doesn't make much sense, you can never forget that this is the realm of Woody Allen, and even if it doesn't make sense, it's always funny and you'll always laugh. Everybody remembers the plotless "Everybody Says I Love You" but no one cared for the plot. It was entertaining. Same here. Sometimes I'd wish that Woody Allen tried a little harder to make movies with a thicker plot - remember "Bullets Over Broadway". But anyway, this movie is a permanent joy to watch, thanks to the great actors, great comedy (even with a non-existent story) and a great photography from Darius Khondji.

I'll make this short but sweet. You must like Woody Allen movies to like this film. It is not your ordinary comedy. Good thing for me I think Allen's humor is great. Biggs did a very awesome job in this film. While he talked he scared me as to how much he sounded like Woody Allen. I will want to one day own this film. It is a very good one by the great writer/director.

This film is a romantic comedy about two young lovers and an older man who happens to be very paranoid.

Anything Else is a typical Woody Allen film, where there are a lot of paranoia and irony. It is dialog heavy, which is a good thing because the dialogs are fun and witty. There are so many memorable scenes in this film. An example is that Woody Allen thiks it is necessary to carry a chainsaw because the modern world is infested with crime. Another scene is that Christina Ricci is too scared to have sex and has a panic attack, and yet she allows the doctor to touch her all over and have no panic attack. That scene is just so funny. I hope this film and other recent Woody Allen films, like "Small Time Crooks" and "Hollywood Ending", reach a wider audience.

The most important feature of Woody Allen's movies are their dialogues. They are full of wit and lots of humour sometimes too. Through them we understand what's going on almost without looking at the images. His movies deal with everyday urban life of the middle class intellectuals, artists, writers, etc. with all their love, sex and professional problems in a way that is apparently superficial but with lots of psychological human truth anyway despite the fact of some episodes being really funny even when they seem dramatic. This movies tells us a story of a young writer who tries to lead a normal life but is prevented of doing so by a crazy older friend (Woody Allen himself) who acts as an adviser but who keeps getting him into trouble with his advices, a crazy girlfriend who has a somewhat irregular notion of love and sex life besides an heterodox behaviour and last but not least his girlfriend's mother who comes to live with them thus increasing the mess his life is turning into. All characters involved are very well presented and the performers do a great job.

The viewing public no longer judges Woody Allen films for what they are. There were posts badmouthing this flick before it ever came out, just because people don't like Woody. It was even worse with critics; very few of them judged Anything Else as its own entity. It didn't measure up to Annie Hall. Well, newsflash! Annie Hall is one of those gems that holds a place in Woody's top ten. He may never make a picture of that quality again...and that isn't a bad thing. I look forward to each year with the knowledge that a Woody Allen film will be released, and though he may not make a Purple Rose of Cairo-quality film every time, I know that a mediocre Woody Allen film is much better than most other films in theaters. Anything Else was not one of Woody's best, but I would rather sit through it one thousand times before I would watch a piece of garbage like Cold Creek Manor again.

Is there anything worse in the movie world than a comedy that is completely unfunny? If comedy is not accomplished, what exactly is the point of the picture? The end result is a two hour experience that feels like five hours.

I'm wondering if this was a bad movie to get introduced to Woody Allen. I've never watched a Woody Allen comedy before, and I know he's quite different from other comedic directors, but after watching Anything Else, I just don't get it. They were a few chuckles here and there, but for the most part, the movie was just boring, unfunny, and depressing (a depressing comedy? What an oxymoron!)

I just could not relate to the characters at all. Jason Biggs supposedly plays a comedian who falls in love with Christina Ricci's character. Both characters are just annoying especially the one played by Christina Ricci. I guess her instability and constant complaining was supposed to be funny. It just dragged the movie on even longer.

Two other minor characters played by Jimmy Fallon and Danny DeVito were completely dispensable. Jimmy Fallon showed up for one scene but is billed on the DVD cover, and Danny DeVito's character was just plain annoying as a groveling, unsuccessful agent. Maybe the point of the movie was to create so many annoying characters that we can laugh at them. Lastly, Woody Allen played a character in this movie, and he was really the only somewhat bright spot for the whole picture. He had some funny lines and gave the story a little extra pep but definitely not enough.

Overall, I'd say this is not a movie for the recreational moviegoer. I think you have to be a die-hard Woody Allen fan to appreciate droning chitchat as comedic gold. Just give me great, fun comedies like Old School or School of Rock any day.

My IMDb Rating: 2/10. My Yahoo! Grade: D- (Truly Awful)

This movie really is an underrated gem. Somehow most critics have become totally unable to accept Woody Allen's work for what it is and compare it only to other movies from the same years.

Woody Allen has said many times that he has no interest in looking back to his old work and, in my opinion, it really shows. From someone who has often raved about the 'Radio Days' of his youth and adores prewar Jazz, he has steadily developed into a director who has no trouble catching the modern every day lives of the people around him. Recreating the atmosphere from his older movies would only show the inability to move on, along with the rest of the world.

Anything Else is proof of that. It's a modern movie with a typical Woody Allen style dialogue that works on several levels. Between the jokes and witty remarks and often great replies, lie the worries of any young guy or girl that has to learn to deal with life's fears and frustrations. Anything Else also has a really nice atmosphere and a great pace - the movie at almost 2 hours never feels like it's stalling or going nowhere. The story moves forward constantly. Biggs really is the star here and is a perfect Young Woody Allen. Ricci is only a supporting character, but both she and the rest of the cast really make this into a believable, relaxed and enjoyable experience.

For those who are willing to learn a little: this movie does make a simple, but very true point about learning to deal with life.

Photography, directing, editing and writing is really first class work - nothing less than what you get in other top Woody Allen movies. Beautiful locations, great camera work and typical Woody style jazz really make this into a perfect 10/10.

The lack of awards and negative reviews are just like Dobel (Woody Allen) says in this movie: You know....it's just like anything else.

Go see it for yourselves!

While I enjoy some Woody Allen movies for his neurotic characters and basic existential themes - I am no fanboy. He seemed to be trying SO hard to throw in references to make sure it was "woody" enough. I was just waiting for there to be a mention of Satre, and I wasn't disappointed.. None, absolutely none, of these characters were enjoyable to me. While they resembled many other characters from Woody's previous films, they didn't have the charm of so many of his other characters. Biggs was a wimp.. but not in a cute way, more in a disgusting spineless idiot manner. Ricci was a "lost soul" like so many of the women in Allen's films.. But it seemed more like she was a soul who was driven to take advantage of those around her, with no feelings for anyone but herself. The mother was an extension of Ricci's character (annoyingly entitled and self-absorbed). So many of the themes seemed to be just thrown together in a disjointed stew. The entire survivalist thing.. was just out of place.

In all, after wasting almost two hours of my time on this movie, I wanted to put the DVD through the shredder. If this movie was by ANYONE other than Woody Allen - there would be very little positive reaction to this crap..

The predictability of the reviews on this database is hilarious. Every Woody Allen film gets...'it's not as good as Annie Hall'. Over and over and over again. As though Woody Allen has committed a heinous crime in making a supposedly lesser film. Just as every Martin Scorsese film gets a run of 'It's not Raging Bull or Goodfellas'. Over and over and over again. I think that sometimes people sit down intent on wallowing in gloom, specifically to compare a film negatively with a director or actor's previous works. Probably the sort of irritating people who go back to the same place on holiday every year and complain that it was cheaper last year, much more fun and friendly and the place has become too commercialised.

Quite frankly I don't care if Anything Else is as good as Annie Hall. I loved it. From start to finish I laughed out loud at the fantastic dialogue, and unlike others I thought the acting was superb. Having heard next to nothing about it on release, this was one of the most unexpectedly funny, heart warming and intelligent films I have seen for some time.

Average Woody Allen is still better than 90% of what's playing theatrically at any given time, so once again we all made the trip to the theatre as we do each year to see "the new Woody Allen." After SMALL TIME CROOKS and CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION and HOLLYWOOD ENDING, all of which were successful attempts to cross over and break out of the "Woody Allen market" and into the general audience, Anything Else features two young leads--Jason Biggs and Christina

Ricci--performing in what's basically a re-write of elements from earlier Allen films such as Annie Hall and Manhattan. Despite the appeal of the young leads, I can't see this film appealing to a young audience. At 45, I was the youngest person in the theatre (except for my teenaged children). Like, say, a later film of Laurel and Hardy or a later film of Clark Gable, this is of interest because it's Woody Allen. It has its charms. The casting is great--beyond Biggs and Ricci, Stockard Channing is hilarious of Ricci's mother, and both Jimmy Fallon and Danny DeVito (neither of whom I usually like) are well-cast in supporting roles. There is a lot of well-written, literate dialogue. Allen's insights into human nature are occasionally insightful. Allen is actually playing a character that IS NOT COMPLETELY his usual persona. The photography is beautiful, as always. Watch for Woody to switch studios again. I don't expect this one to be in theatres long, so see it while you can.

Started 15 minutes into it and left 30 minutes later. I couldn't take it anymore. Why do people continue to insist Woody Allen is a genius? He hasn't had an original piece of work for years.

He keeps writing the same characters over and over. Same music, same Woody character just a younger body. The man has lost all originality and imagination. It is as if he just changed the names of one of his past screenplays. Jason Biggs is the new body, he can do better. Christina Ricci is the new Diane Keaton, yech! This film is pathetic. Don't lose a minute of your life on this. Run the other direction! Fast!

Woody Allen steps back from himself in ANYTHING ELSE and turns center stage over to a couple of young protagonists who are allowed to thrash around and make their own mistakes, with only a little kibitzing from the side by Woody. In the process, the film tackles all of the larger issues of life, love, ethics and the loneliness of man in the universe that Woody has grappled with, in varying degrees of clarity, in so many of his earlier films, but does it in a way that charms and tickles the audience and, ultimately, reassures them. While Woody's character has a dark, paranoid streak to him, the film is nowhere near as bitter and acidic (nor as profound) as DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997), the last film of Allen's to address these issues head-on.

Woody plays a sage/mentor to a young comedy writer who's trying to write a dark, existential novel. The writer, Jerry Falk (played by Jason Biggs of AMERICAN PIE fame), is saddled with a clinging manager (Danny DeVito), who keeps using inappropriate (but amusing) Garment Center metaphors, and is mired in a hopeless relationship with Amanda, a whirlwind of a young woman who sucks people into her life and then treats them badly. Played to perfection by Christina Ricci, Amanda is smart, seductive, and clearly exciting to be around, but is a bundle of deadly neuroses that will take a lifetime to untangle. We see her future self reflected in her narcissistic, childlike mother (Stockard Channing in a wonderful comic supporting performance), who comes to stay with the couple early in the film.

It's all about Jerry coming to grips with who he is, what he wants to do, and what it will take for him to get there. And it's Woody, playing a schoolteacher near retirement age who wants to tackle a comedy writing career late in life for himself, who serves as the catalyst for Jerry. Thus, the movie encapsulates, in, perhaps, an overly tidy fashion, the broad advice Woody wants to dispense to the younger members of his audience. While it's occasionally cartoonish and sometimes veers narrowly toward the heavy-handed, it also gives us a more confident and lively Woody, one who is freed from the self-imposed demands of being the romantic lead. Overall, it's a delightful, charming, funny and genuinely touching film which not only makes very good use of its young stars, but also of its writer-director-co-star-turned elder statesman.

Written and directed by Woody Allen, also a main star, "Anything Else" has the virtue of bringing some new lines and funny scenes to the Manhattan he adores. And today's Upper West Side audience fully enjoyed the quips, at least a few of which, as always, won't be understood much north of the George Washington Bridge. And certainly not south of it.

Forever neurotic, and perhaps the only comedian who can get a laugh with a joke about Auschwitz, Allen plays a single, graying comedy writer with a day job as a public high school teacher. His character is named David Dobel. Forget it, it's irrelevant. This is the same Woody we've known for decades pontificating on every possible subject to young protege, Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs). Falk, a comedy writer who seems to be doing well, is living with drop-dead-beautiful Amanda (Christina Ricci) who has developed a hangup about having sex with her lover. A frustrating situation. Made worse by the arrival of Amanda's mom, Paula (played with devastating scene-stealing by Stockard Channing).

Falk has an agent, Harvey (Danny De Vito). De Vito's fine but we've seen him do this kind of character often and while amusing there's nothing special here.

Biggs, a young actor, is believable as he struggles to hold on to his girlfriend whose perplexing behavior seems to have no discernible cause. Allen uses his familiar technique of having a main character, here Falk, frequently speak to the audience.

What is special is the increasingly interesting Ricci whose ability to shift moods from seductive to exasperated to bitchy is marvelous. A real talent here-she's got a lot of room to grow.

I won't spoil anyone's fun but one line, which should have produced mild smiles, rocked the audience with raucous laughter. Why? Because no filmmaker, not even Woody, can predict the future.

I don't know how well "Anything Else" will play outside a few big cities and some campuses and even there long runs aren't likely. Don't go if you've had a surfeit of Allen in the past ten years. No one can claim this is a great film as are some of his earlier ones. But if, like me, you're loyal to a brilliant comic who zeroes in on many of our civilization's discontents (you didn't think he'd give up on harpooning analysts, did you?), this is a good, fun film. And the scenes shot in Gotham are great, some within a five-minute walk of the theater.

A comfortable, even comforting, experience for all who now wait for Woody's NEXT movie. I'm one of them.

7/10.

This may not be as funny or as deep as some of Woody Allen's other films, but it is still another solid entry in his career. Allen has some things to say about the way in which people function and there are also some great lines of his typical wit. Jason Biggs gives off a surprisingly strong performance, and as usual, Woody Allen's choice of music is flawless. There are some awkward moments between the jokes, the storyline is a bit stale, and the talking to the audience narration jars the story action a bit. However, despite any problems that the film may have, it still is pleasant, entertaining stuff, with Allen a delight to have on screen in a role much smaller than what he usually writes for himself.

Remember the last ten minutes of ANNIE HALL (a classic that I love)? Woody writes a play about his experiences, and two college kids audition for the roles.

That's what this entire movie is like to watch.

Jason Biggs has the rather unfortunate job of portraying the 'Woody' role, and he does so by putting on a coat and a deep voice. The effect is like watching your child put on your shoes and coat and walk around pretending to be mature.

Christina Ricci preens and poses to better effect, but still one would have to suspend all disbelief to imagine her having a deep thought in her head at all.

ENTIRELY miscast, Woody plays the role Danny DeVito is perfect for, Danny DeVito plays the role Woody is perfect for, and there are several 'hot young things' who have one or two lines here or there.

The whole affair left me remembering when Woody Allen cast his films with care, rather than looking at the box office and finding the latest hot young thing. I ended up feeling sorry for all the actors, and rushing out to rent MANHATTAN, which, like Annie Hall, remains a classic, and will always be there to remind us of what once was with Woody Allen.

This film is one of Woody's best. Basically is it criticised by people who don't like Woody Allen for being like all the others, or by people that do like him because it's not quite his usual story line. The only weakness is that Jason Biggs is not quite up to the task, and looks a little lacking in confidence in places. Christina Ricci is excellent as ever, and Woody does a great job playing the eccentric old man, a role that is much more appropriate to his age than many he has attempted to play since he became middle aged (20 years ago!).

This is packed with interesting views on life, great jokes (not Woody's usual repetition of the same jokes like the "polymorphously perverse" line) and touching reflections on relationships.

Highly recommended.

When Woody Allen did stand-up in the 1960s, you could tell he was having fun. When he played broad physical comedy in early 1970s films like Bananas, Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, and Sleeper, he was hilarious and it sure looked like he was having fun.

In later and recent films, the closest he comes to fun is usually sardonic wit, and surrogate Woodys like Jason Biggs (who does a masterly imitation of the trademark stammer) under Allen's direction come across as younger old (sour) Woodys, not young younger (fun-loving) Woodys.

So a lot of the fun is gone. In its place are more speeches and stagecraft, but also longer (and more fruitful) thoughts. Anything Else deploys familiar bedroom-farcical situations and characters, but it uses them to explore the dynamics of self-confidence. This exploration is the longer thought and pervading theme of the film. Initially Dobel (played by Allen) is a supremely confident mentor to Falk (Biggs). By the end of the film, Falk, under Dobel's prodding, has become self-confident enough to make a clean break from the life he knows; whereas Dobel has gotten himself into a situation where he appears completely insecure.

Is self-confidence entirely situational? Can a person who always tries to please act ethically? As the film approaches its end, Allen's script becomes increasingly sharp, with many memorable lines and phrases. Woody seems to be using film the way Alexander Pope used poetry in an earlier age. In Anything Else, as in some other films, he seeks to discover and explore the nature and meaning of an ethical life where another thoughtful director might use the same premise to analyze social behavior or plumb depths of character.

People who are open to film as musing and meditation on a serious issue may well find Anything Goes even more rewarding on its third watching than on its first.

I had some hope for this one early on. Allen is very hit and miss, but there's always that hope that this will be a hit, and it was interesting seeing him play a character who is in many ways the antithesis of his normal character.

Unfortunately, Allen has just transfered his normal neurotic characteristics to another actor, the forgettable Biggs. Allen managed to get away with playing whiny, self-involved, selfish people because he's funny and has a certain goofy charm, but Biggs fails to make anything out of the tedious dialog Allen gives him. Biggs' character is a creep, his girlfriend is high-maintenance and even more selfish, her mother is possibly worse, and it is beyond me why anyone would want to spend time with these people. The movie also is a classic example of a Woody Allen movie where everyone is basically the same character with the same interests and the same attitudes (the reason I disliked the overrated Hannah and her Sisters), making the movie little more than a long monologue split up between several actors. Allen's own character is the least painful but not much funnier than the rest, and the movie fails as a comedy if it's trying to be one, and fails as a drama if that's what it's going for.

I made it about half way through, hoping it would pick up, or reveal some sort of purpose, but then I just couldn't take it any more.

This expertly done film has the marketed trappings of a romantic comedy, but as usual the advertising is misleading. "Anything Else" is not a light romp or a gentle farce like some may expect. This is a dark and funny look at today's selfish, chaotic and often violent world. It's about the uncertainty of intention; it's about trusting one's instincts over the words and appearances of others, and it's about learning to survive on one's own. Woody Allen pulls no punches and follows things through to their inevitable end, even allowing his own supporting character to rage blindly and possibly wrongly against the all-encompassing hatred he sees everywhere he goes. Soaked in fecund greens, New York City stands in for the unknown, wild and indifferent jungle (with Central Park as its heart). So it is no coincidence that Woody drives a bright red Porsche that roars like an animal; and it is particularly apt that the car he demolishes out of rage and a sense of justice is green.

Yet the filmmaker allows this kind of paranoia to be suspect. He challenges the fruition of distrusting everyone--even though in many cases throughout the film, the bitterness, rejection and anger are warranted.

Many critics dismiss "Anything Else" as old jokes rehashed or even "unwatchable." I'm not sure what film they saw. I wanted to go back in the moment it ended. Yes, Woody revisits the themes of his previous films. He is an artist. Love and death, infidelity and sex are his motifs. Nobody throws out Hitchcock's later films because they were once again about the wrong man or some guy with a crazy mother. This is a cerebral, subversive movie. It has its one-liners and its rhythm of performance, complete with incredulous stuttering by Jason Biggs and a whiny Christina Ricci as an inscrutable actress. But the film is fresh and strong and--as typical of original art--completely underrated.

I'm not a big fan of Woody but this film has some interesting points. Jason Biggs plays perfect. He is famous for the horrible movie: "American Pie", stupid film based in stupid jokes. I think this was his first important role and Woody gave him the chance to use his acting skills. Sometimes he is acting like Allen and he moves the same way. But the big discover is Christina Ricci. I didn't pay attention to her previous films but after this one I will see her like a good young actress. She has a strange and natural beauty, and sometimes a sexy hidden side. Don't miss the moment where she is sitting showing her wonderful body. And she was the girl from Casper! Amazing! I feel old.. New York City is used by Allen again to increase the particular atmosphere of the film. Thanks Woody for this simple but nice film. I will be waiting for your next work.

I was in a Christina Ricci craze for a while and was trying to catch many of her movies. This movie ended that phase. Boy was this bad. I wasn't even going to waste time writing a review, as I felt cheated enough with the time spent viewing, but then I saw all of the 10's that this movie received. Huh? Everything about this movie is bad - the script, the jokes, the acting. Even NYC!?!? I can see why Woody Allen has had success with recent movies that are not set in New York as the New York in this movie looks like it's from another planet. Jason Biggs performance in American Pie is like Citizen Kane compared to this movie. In case I didn't mention it already, this movie is bad. Avoid at all costs. Avoid especially if you're a Woody Allen, Christina Ricci or Jason Biggs fan as your estimation of each of them will only go down.