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DVD Movie Rating for: Anything Else

Anything Else movie rating 1 out of 5 stars, dont expect to laugh while watching this movie

Movie Plot of: Anything Else

Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer in New York, falls in love at first sight with a free-spirited young woman named Amanda. Jerry has heard the phrase that love is like anything else, but he soon finds that being in love with the unpredictable Amanda isn’t like anything else at all.

Love at first sight isn’t always 20/20. Jason Biggs stars as Jerry Falk, who learns that lesson the hard way when he falls head over heels in love with the beautiful but flighty Amanda. "I think love at first sight ultimately lends itself to some relationship problems down the road,"

Christina Ricci, who stars as Amanda, remarks frankly, "Amanda is very seductive and very good at playing into what a man would want, but she’s basically just a child, who is incapable of really loving anyone… probably not even herself. She’s emotionally immature, but she calls it a ‘commitment problem’ because it sounds a lot more mature and dignified than saying ‘I’m just a big baby,’" she laughs. "She’s really the ultimate nightmare girlfriend."

"Jerry is a pushover," Jason Biggs acknowledges. "He’s a little too forgiving of Amanda and those certain qualities about her—like her infidelity and her relationship committal issues. Jerry is very timid about ending relationships that he needs to break from for his own good. I suppose he is very unselfish in a way; he puts others before himself."

Christina Ricci sees the problem a little less altruistically from Amanda’s perspective. "I think the fact that she is always just beyond his reach and never really gives herself to him is what keeps him chasing after her.

Christina Ricci says that what first excited her when she read the script was, "I thought it was a great mixture of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘Stardust Memories,’ which is my favorite Woody Allen movie. And Amanda is such a typical Woody Allen girl, so I figured if you’re going to do a Woody Allen movie, you might as well play the quintessential Woody Allen girl. Ricci concludes, “There are those people who walk around analyzing and worrying about everything, so I think the message in the title is, it’s like anything else, so why worry about it. But then, it’s a Woody Allen movie, so that really can’t be it."

DVD Production Details of: Anything Else

Starring: Woody Allen, Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci

Director: Woody Allen

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen

Aspect Ratio(s): 2.35:1

Audio Encoding: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Release Date: December 23, 2003
Run Time: 109

DVD Easter Eggs

None

Cast of the movie: Anything Else

• Woody Allen .... David Dobel
• Jason Biggs .... Jerry Falk
• Fisher Stevens .... Manager
• Anthony Arkin .... Pip's Comic
• Danny DeVito .... Harvey
• Christina Ricci .... Amanda
• KaDee Strickland .... Brooke
• Jimmy Fallon .... Bob
• Diana Krall .... Herself
• William Hill .... Psychiatrist
• Stockard Channing .... Paula
• Maurice Sonnenberg .... Movie Theater Patron
• Kenneth Edelson .... Hotel Desk Clerk
• David Conrad .... Dr. Reed
• Joseph Lyle Taylor .... Bill
• Erica Leerhsen .... Connie
• Adrian Grenier .... Ray Polito
• Anthony J. Ribustello .... Car Thug
• Ray Garvey .... Car Thug
• Wynter Kullman .... Emily
• Zach McLarty .... Ralph
• Ralph Pope .... Cab Driver
• James Babbin .... Movie Patron
• Carson Grant .... Acting Teacherx
• Greg Orvis .... Party-goer
• Nicolas Pernisco .... Bell Boy
• Melissa Russo .... Restaurant Patron
• Eric Tonken .... Bar Patron

Photo Gallery of the movie: Anything Else

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Anything Else

Reviews of the movie: Anything Else

Having been watching and reviewing action movies in recent weeks, my mind began to wander while watching Woody Allen's latest foray into the comedic depths of neurosis: What sets this aging little man apart from every other writer/director in the business and causes $20 million-per-film stars to work for next to nothing just to be in his movies? The answer came as I remembered one of the most basic rules for writing- Put ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances ( a la Armageddon), or put extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances. Woody Allen has defined himself in this latter regard, subsequently creating a whole new genre while re-imagining how movies could be told.

Another rule: you can't have your characters just sitting around talking- keep the action moving. Woody Allen obviously puts about as much credit in this as he does in perceived relationship taboos. All his characters DO is sit around and talk. But it's the HOW that sets him apart and silences the nay sayers. As in his previous films, the dialogue here is fresh and insightful while managing the hat trick of being funny as well. It's vintage Allen, harking back to the romantic foibles he explored in his Oscar-winner Annie Hall. What makes it so enjoyable is how unlike other formulaic writers who start with relatable characters whom the audience can identify with, Allen begins with relatable situations and predicaments that anyone who's been in love with can recognize, and then adds eccentric and heavily flawed characters to carry you on the very familiar journey.

In a departure, however, Woody Allen has handed center stage over to a young prot�g� of sorts, the funny and talented Jason Biggs. I've always thought of Jason Biggs as very Allen-esque anyway, from the bumbling and inexperienced Jim in American Pie to perpetual lovelorn nice-guy Paul in Loser, Jason Biggs has made a very successful career playing the slightly neurotic but lovable scamp always searching for love. He's even inherited Woody's trademark stutter (by choice or genetics I don't know.) But it's no mystery why Allen saw his younger self in the pie-lover, and with Bigg's acting chops only getting stronger, their pairing was all but inevitable.

While Jason Biggs's character Jerry struggles with such traditional Woody Allen fare as timidness, loyalty, love and psychotherapy, former Addam's Family member Christina Ricci sheds what's left of her little girl image to play a sweet, sexy and hopelessly insatiable girlfriend Amanda. As she's done in movies like The Opposite of Sex, Christina Ricci lets it all out, without fear or inhibition. She pours herself into the role with a gusto that will definitely have Hollywood take notice. As with all of Woody Allen characters, she is the mischievous and nearly bi-polar girl who seems to be the cause of most of Jerry's frustrations, but also the spark that keeps his heart aflame. Like a one woman roller-coaster, Amanda's view's on life and love are so chaotic that we, like Jerry, have no choice but to hang on for dear life. But then there's that Woody Allen sensibility that grounds all this wackiness in a reality that makes us say, "I've been there" at the same time we're say, "You poor, poor man."

Not one to be upstaged, Woody Allen himself plays Dobel, a struggling comedy writer with hilariously skewed but strangely insightful views on life. As if life imitating art, Allen acts as a Bigg's mentor and confidant, offering solutions to almost as many problems as he creates.

Anything Else is by far Woody Allen's finest work in recent memory. It combines all the traditional elements that made him such a success throughout his career while exploring new avenues and characters that bring his work up to the modern age. Funny, insightful, quirky and enjoyable, the movie and the man are nearly indistinguishable. Jason Biggs is the Woody Allen for the new millennium, a gifted comedian that will continue to shine. Christina Ricci is an Oscar-worthy actress without a trace of trepidation. For us ordinary people caught in ordinary lives, it's nice to surrender to the outrageous while keeping a secure foot in the familiar. Hey, It's like anything else.

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With Anything Else, Woody Allen is attempting something that is simultaneously similar yet different from his past projects. The focal point of the movie is the relationship between two twenty-something characters, Jerry (Jason Biggs) and Amanda (Christina Ricci). Never before had Allen directed two protagonists this young, and, over the course of his career, he has more often dealt with May-December romances than those between adults of a comparable age. The characters and their neuroses, however, are pure Allen. The actor/director is only on screen in a supporting role, but he has overlaid his personality on Jerry.

The good news is that Anything Else is a distinct improvement over Woody Allen's recent spate of forgettable, disappointing motion pictures. (Anyone recall Hollywood Ending? Curse of the Jade Scorpion?) The bad news that an "improvement" does not equate to a great movie. Anything Else is disposable entertainment. It's enjoyable in the short-term, but, at some point in the distant future when a film historian is reciting a list of landmark Woody Allen movies, Anything Else won't be there.

The plot isn't groundbreaking. Most of it is lifted piecemeal from Allen's previous work, with the most obvious antecedent being Annie Hall. (Don't get too excited; this movie isn't close in terms of quality.) Anything Else autopsies the relationship of Jerry and Amanda, showing its development (through flashbacks) and its disintegration (in real time). One of the key differences between this and Annie Hall is that, in the earlier movie, we honestly believed that Alvy and Annie had a chance. In Anything Else, long-term for Jerry and Amanda would be about a year. Their relationship is doomed from the beginning.

The interaction between these characters is fascinating, and leads to two or three borderline remarkable scenes. Biggs, despite being saddled with the typical neurotic Allen personality, does a credible job. Ricci positively smolders. Not only does she perfectly inhabit her character (which isn't that much of a stretch from the one she played in Prozac Nation), but she looks marvelous, and Allen has no problem showing off her attributes (no nudity, but some very sexy stuff). Psychologically, Amanda's almost as big a mess as Jerry. We have all known someone like her - commitment-phobic, frightened of monogamy, incapable of telling the truth, and an expert at planning guilt trips for her partner. Yet, when she's being affectionate, she's so adorable that it makes everything seem worth it. Unfortunately for Jerry, she's not sleeping with him any more (he reminds her of her father), and his problem is that he doesn't know how to end a relationship.

Allen plays David Dobel, an older man whom Jerry meets daily in Central Park. Dobel becomes Jerry's mentor, although not all of his advice is wise (some of it is sociopathic). Ultimately, however, it's Dobel who convinces Jerry to shake up his life. Get rid of the girlfriend and her demanding mother (Stockard Channing), dump his useless business manager (Danny DeVito), and move to California, where his career as a comedy writer can take off.

The jokes in Anything Else are a cut above those in the last three or four Allen films. There are plenty of laughs to be had, although most of them are all of the "sly chuckle" rather than "gut-bursting guffaw" variety. But the zingers keep coming, and, perhaps surprisingly, one of the targets is psychotherapy. In the past, Allen has been a proponent of this sort of treatment. However, in this film, he opens fire on the profession with both barrels. One has to assume it's for comedic effect.

One of the reasons that Anything Else works more often than not is because Allen understands human sexual weaknesses. There's a lot of truth in the screenplay, and, combined with Ricci's top-notch, can't-take-your-eyes-off-her-when-she's-on-screen performance, this gives the movie a strong spine. Some of the subplots and secondary characters are weak, and there's almost too much angst for my taste, but, on balance, the film is worth a look. It's not a return to form, but it's a step in the right direction.

Dreamworks has elected to market Anything Else with a light emphasis on Allen and a heavy focus on the Ricci/Biggs relationship. The approach makes sense from a business standpoint, because Allen's core audience is over age 35, and the majority of multiplex visitors are under age 35. Anything Else may not be the second coming of Annie Hall, but it has more wit and substance than almost every post-college romance that sees the inside of a projection booth. And, in today's marketplace, that probably means it will lose money.