Cast: Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Woody Allen, Stockard Channing, Danny DeVito
Director: Woody Allen
Producer: Letty Aronson
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Cinematography: Darius Khondji
U.S. Distributor: Dreamworks
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 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.
© 2003 James Berardinelli