ANYTHING ELSE Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Woody Allen Producer: Letty Aronson Writer: Woody Allen Director of Photography: Darius Khondji Cast: Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Woody Allen, Danny DeVito, Stockard Channing Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

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Review by: Warren Curry
9/18/03

I am not a Woody Allen aficionado. Sure, I've seen most of his widely acclaimed work (Manhattan, Annie Hall), but I don't make it a point to run out and catch every single one of his releases, which find there way into theaters at a steady annual rate. I could really take or leave most of the films I've seen of his in the past decade, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders if the quality of his work would improve if he just reduced its quantity. So it came as a bit of surprise to me that I thoroughly enjoyed Anything Else, Allen's latest spin on being a neurotic Jewish New Yorker.

Assuming the Woody Allen role this time around is American Pie franchise graduate Jason Biggs, who stars as 21-year-old Jerry Falk. Even at his young age, Jerry has a burgeoning career as a comedy writer and is in a serious relationship. His live-in girlfriend is the conniving, sexy Amanda (Christina Ricci), a walking trouble sign who dangles Jerry's feelings on an emotional string. Through a lengthy flashback section, we see the origins of Jerry and Amanda's relationship, which began when they were both involved with other people. It was basically love at first sight for Jerry, and quickly enough Amanda, for reasons she can only know, reciprocated his feelings.

But those humble beginnings seem a lifetime ago to Jerry, who has been neglected emotionally and physically by Amanda for several months. Jerry's best friend and mentor, 60-year-old David Dobler (Allen), a paranoid high school teacher and fellow comedy writer, plants the idea of Amanda's infidelity into the young man's head, along with other similar thoughts of self-induced fear. Dobler's advice, filtered through his twisted view of the world, actually does have a well-meaning purpose: to inspire Jerry to develop a backbone and take control of his life. (Jerry doesn't get these much needed words of wisdom from his strangely silent therapist.) Along with maintaining a watchful eye on Amanda, Dobler tries to convince Jerry to dump his loyal but inept manager, Harvey (Danny Devito), and even manages to persuade him into keeping a rifle in his house.

There a discernible mean streak to this film, thanks mainly to the thoughts and actions of Dobler. Although this supporting character could overwhelm the movie, Allen shades him into the screenplay with enough restraint so he doesn't overshadow Jerry. A few of the scenes, such as when Jerry makes his break from Harvey, play out as cruel comedy, although they register as more clumsy than darkly humorous. But Allen does hit this mark squarely in a scene when Dobler shows the full extent of his absence of good judgment when retaliating against a couple of bullies who stole his parking spot.

Although I would've never imagined this going in, Jason Biggs is actually pretty engaging in the lead role, helped out by direct addresses to the audience that aid in humanizing the character. Christina Ricci's performances always seems to tread into caricature territory, but given the way her character is written -- with little in the way of redeeming qualities -- the actress hits the right superficial and sometimes nasty notes. Surprisingly, Devito is a bit of a weak link, really falling short in his most showy scene when Jerry gives him the axe. (Did I mention that this scene doesn't work?)

Allen has employed the same formula, with little tweaks here and there, for decades now, and in this instance he seems to have recharged his batteries a bit. The dialogue is consistently sharp, the comedy works much more often than not, and Jerry's character arc is suitably interesting. While Allen, even at his most pedestrian, is usually entertaining, Anything Else goes the extra step and easily sets itself apart from some of his faceless offerings of recent years.

(A DreamWorks Pictures release. Opens in wide release on September 19, 2003.)