Main Cast: Woody Allen, Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Danny DeVito, Stockard Channing
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A young artist struggling with his career and his muse is getting more than a little aggravation from Cupid in this romantic comedy written and directed by Woody Allen. Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs) is a promising 21-year-old comedy writer living in New York City. While Jerry has talent, he's having a hard time getting his career off the ground, which might have something to do with the fact his agent Harvey (Danny DeVito) is a well-meaning, but ineffectual, blowhard, and his mentor David Dobel (Allen) is an increasingly paranoid eccentric whose twin careers as a teacher and standup comic are both floundering. Poised at the top of Jerry's mountain of anxieties is his relationship with his girlfriend Amanda (Christina Ricci); from the first moment he saw her, Jerry has been in love with her, but Amanda's multiple neuroses, fear of commitment, and frustrating intimacy issues make her all but impossible to be around. Jerry is approaching his breaking point when the small flat he shares with Amanda becomes home to a third roommate -- Amanda's mother Paula (Stockard Channing), who has decided to come to New York to chase her dream of becoming a cabaret singer. Anything Else also features supporting performances from Jimmy Fallon, William Hill, and jazz vocalist Diana Krall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Woody Allen's Anything Else is a decent effort, especially when comparing it to Allen films from the same period. The lifeless Hollywood Ending and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion showed a filmmaker whose muse may have left once and for all, but Anything Else corrals some of Allen's most familiar themes and allows him to show some life. Jason Biggs is well cast as Jerry Falk. He comes off like an everyman, offering the perfect counterpoint to the crazies that orbit his world. Even though he has been given dialogue that often rings of old-school Allen, Biggs generally avoids imitating Allen's familiar vocal tics. Christina Ricci is a familiar Allen female -- a sexually voracious, emotionally troubled, attractive woman who brings out the worst in the men who become entangled with her. Ricci, however, is so appealing, and is photographed so adoringly, that she makes the character as sympathetic as possible. Even Allen the filmmaker seems to have been won over by her. Allen the actor takes on a role that is simultaneously familiar, while still being unlike any he has played before. David Dobell is not a cute neurotic, he's a violent paranoid psychotic. This lends an edge to the stereotypical "the world is aligned against me" schtick Allen has mastered, which it had been lacking for a while. Any Allen fan will recognize the recycling of elements from Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, and Manhattan. If the old saying that artists steal rather than borrow is true, at least Woody is pilfering from some of his best work. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
KaDee Strickland - Brooke; Jimmy Fallon - Bob; Erica Leerhsen - Connie; William Hill - Psychiatrist; David Conrad - Dr. Reed; Adrian Grenier - Ray Polito; Diana Krall - Herself; Glenn Close; Kenneth Edelson - Hotel Desk Clerk; Fisher Stevens - Manager; Joseph Lyle Taylor - Bill; Ray Garvey - Car Thug; Maurice Sonnenberg - Movie Theater Patron; Anthony Arkin - Pip's Comic; Wynter Kullman - Emily; Anthony J. Ribustello - Car Thug; Zach McLarty - Ralph; Ralph Pope - Cab Driver
Credit
Tom Warren - Art Director, Juliet Taylor - Casting, Laura Rosenthal - Casting, Helen Robin - Co-producer, Laura Jean Shannon - Costume Designer, Richard Patrick - First Assistant Director, Woody Allen - Director, Alisa Lepselter - Editor, Charles H. Joffe - Executive Producer, Jack Rollins - Executive Producer, Stephen Tenenbaum - Executive Producer, Santo Loquasto - Production Designer, Darius Khondji - Cinematographer, Letty Aronson - Producer, Gary Alper - Sound/Sound Designer, Woody Allen - Screenwriter, Charles H. Joffe - Co-Executive Producer, Jack Rollins - Co-Executive Producer
Jerry Falk (Biggs) is an aspiring writer living in New York City who falls in love at first sight with Amanda (Ricci) and dumps his girlfriend to get with her. Seeking advice, Jerry turns to the aging struggling artist (Allen) who acts as his oracle—and that includes trying to help sort out Jerry's romantic life.
The film received generally poor reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received 40 percent positive reviews, based on 129 reviews.[1]Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 37 reviews.[2]Leonard Maltin, in his movie and video guide, gave the film a "BOMB" rating, and called it "Allen's all-time worst". In August 2009, it was cited by Quentin Tarantino as one of his favorite 20 films since 1992.[3]
Marketing
Dreamworks launched a $10 million marketing campaign for the movie that was centered on the appeal of Biggs and Ricci to attract a teenage audience to the film. Trailers, TV ads and posters for the film seemed to hide the fact that the film was written and directed by Allen, perhaps due to his last few films being underperformers at the box office. Roger Ebert noted in his review of the film that "It's as if they have the treasure of a Woody Allen movie and they're trying to package it for the American Pie crowd."[4] The film was a flop stateside, opening at #12 its opening weekend and grossing only $3.2 million. As always for Allen's films, it performed better overseas, grossing $10.3 million, but could not make back its $18 million shooting budget or the $10 million Dreamworks spent marketing the film.
Filming
Anything Else is only the second Allen film to be shot in anamorphic format, the first being Manhattan. It also has the honor of being the first film released with all prints having cyan optical soundtracks (the new standard for analog sound on film prints).
When he cast him and during most of the shoot, Allen was under the impression that Biggs was Jewish. Allen was surprised to discover that he is in fact Catholic.
