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ANYTHING ELSE Send This Review to a Friend
Woody Allen has uncorked a smart, funny romantic comedy that is cleverly contemporary thanks to his astute teaming of Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci, and yet he also manages to provide the kind of urban, perceptive humor that has become his trademark. Biggs, good looking and appealing, plays a recycled Allen character of yore complete with the besieged persona, while Allen appears in the role of mentor, one both crazy and philosophical. The combination is bright and clearly with a nod both toward today's audiences and long-time Allen fans.
This is astute filmmaking with an entertaining result despite sporadic sags. Biggs plays Jerry Falk, an aspiring comedy writer, managed by a loser of an agent, hilariously enacted by Danny DeVito, and Allen as David Dobel is an experienced comedy writer who takes Jerry under his wing. Dobel admits to having been in a loony bin and believes in building a military survival kit in case he is threatened in a world brutal enough to have produced the Holocaust. Some very funny business stems from Dobel taking Jerry to buy a rifle.
Jerry's problems with self-esteem, self-effacing behavior and women parallel the angst of earlier Allen movies. He becomes involved with Ricci as Amanda, very cute but a bundle of self-absorption as a would-be actress. Amanda goes from avid sexuality to holding back from the bewildered Jerry. She's the sort who expects him to be overjoyed if she has sex with someone else because it proves she can still have an orgasm. Stockard Channing is raucously funny turning up as Amanda's overbearing mother, who moves into the couple's small apartment while she searches for a new a new life and new lovers.
That's the basic setup for the comedy in which Jerry must find himself, with Dobel leading him both astray and onward. Allen's script is replete with funny lines and situations, and plenty of offbeat philosophy about women, sex, life and the world. Built-in is an acute awareness of anti-Semitism and horrors inflicted upon humankind, but always filtered through Allen's brainy humor.
Allen once remarked that comedies shouldn't be more than 87 minutes long. He stretches the time a bit here, and with the character Amanda such a problematic pain in the butt for Jerrry, and at times by extension to us, there is room for some editing of their relationship to make the film flow faster. That carp aside, "Anything Else" turns out to be a Woody Allen film that's delightfully fresh. As usual, the score Allen has chosen is another strong point, and of course, New York is a great looking added character. A DreamWorks Pictures release.
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