Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

gridoon2018 Neither one of Woody Allen's worst films, nor one of his best. It has a few laughs (-"Do you love me?" -"Of course, why do you ask? Because I pull away every time you try to touch me?"), some cinematically inventive moments (though nothing that Woody hadn't already done before in "Annie Hall"), and certain emotionally accurate observations. But it often feels like it's going around in circles without really getting anywhere. I decided to note down all the quote-worthy lines of this film - and they are in the single digits. And some stuff - like Allen's obsession with guns for self-defense - simply doesn't work at all. But other stuff - like the psychoanalyst who barely speaks - does work, Jason Biggs acquits himself admirably in the "younger Woody Allen" role, and as is to be expected from an Allen film, the cinematography and the music are a pleasure for the eyes and ears, respectively. **1/2 out of 4.

TheLittleSongbird Woody Allen is not for everyone but to me he is an interesting director who has a lot to say and does so in a funny, interesting and often in a painfully truthful way. He's done some masterpieces like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdeameanours, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives and Purple Rose of Cairo, some great ones like Zelig, Stardust Memories and Sleeper though also with a few disappointments with What's Up Tiger Lily, To Rome With Love, Celebrity and Cassandra's Dream. Anything Else did not hold up as well as September, Scoop and Curse of the Jade Scorpion on re-watch(all of which I didn't care for on first viewing) but for all the flaws there are in the film it is nowhere near as bad as expected after hearing it cited often as Allen's worst. Anything Else is one of the weakest Allen films of the ones seen so far(there's still a fair few to go yet) but it's a bit too soon to say it is his worst, considering that I did enjoy it over all of the films mentioned as disappointments that's unlikely. Starting with the many good things, as always with Woody Allen Anything Else is exceptionally well made visually, with beautiful locations and luminous photography. The jazz soundtrack is equally sublime, providing slinky and haunting undercurrents that suited the film brilliantly. Anything Else does have a script that is very distinctive of Woody Allen, there are some genuinely funny moments and of the sly kind, parts really make you think of the issues Allen addresses, there is a lot of truth in the dialogue and painfully so and there is a biting, scathing approach that is sharp enough to make their impact. Sure, a few jokes fall flat which will be mentioned later, but the script is just fine on the whole. The story is uneven but it mostly keeps at a good pace, it does have a good amount of charm(well considering that there is a very clear Annie Hall influence that wasn't surprising) and the sense that the relationship is doomed right from the start- something that Annie Hall did not have- gave some darkness and depth. The acting is good, with Christina Ricci particularly strong and she is well supported by Woody Allen(well mostly) and Danny DeVito who are both hilarious. The chemistry between the leads is very believable and wisely takes centre stage. It is easy though to see why people do not like Anything Else because the characters are written so scathingly(especially Ricci's and Stockard Channing's) and in a selfish and neurotic way that compared to other Allen films it's not as easy to connect with them, that was likely to be intentional but as can be seen in the reviews it will turn people off. Stockard Channing does her best and is funny and formidable, but her character is underwritten so you are left wishing that Channing had much more of note to work with. Jason Biggs's didn't really work for me personally, like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity(except not as annoyingly) some of the performance did feel that, for somebody intentionally channelling Woody Allen himself, that it was too much of an impersonation and not really coming into his own. Not all the story works, with the miscarriage subplot feeling underplayed and the Jews subplot could easily have been much more toned down or scrapped altogether. It was in this subplot also where the weak link of the jokes were situated, the Holocaust jokes are quite crude and unsubtle for Allen and it won't bode well with some, a couple were on the offensive side actually. All in all, has problems but better than expected considering what has been said about it(which is very understandable and valid but it's from personal viewpoint not as bad as all that). 6/10 Bethany Cox

blanche-2 Jason Biggs stars with Woody Allen in "Anything Else," a 2003 film written and directed by the prolific Allen.Biggs is Jerry Falk, a young comic who meets an older comic, David Dobel, who talks with him about life, getting together with him in Central Park and waxing philosophically. Dobel is full of big words and big ideas, some of which are good ("You have to watch everything in this world, or else your life ends up as a black and white newsreel with cello accompaniment in a minor key.") and some are out there - like having a gun for every room.Jerry's life is complicated. He has a psychiatrist that never talks, an agent (Danny Devito) who's the laughing stock of New York, and a girlfriend (Christina Ricci) he adores but who for the last six months hasn't had sex with him. But she loves him. Even when she has sex with other men, she's thinking only of him. And by the way, her mother (Stockard Channing) an aspiring nightclub singer, is moving into his small apartment with her rental piano.Dobel attempts to extricate Jerry from some of these situations, but then seeing how Dobel handles things gives Jerry pause. Someone steals his parking space, Dobel goes back and smashes everything breakable on the car.There's really no plot, just some clever dialogue and some fun scenes. Allen is amazing. He can write a heavy drama one day, a sophisticated comedy the next, a woman's picture the next, and then a smallish in between comedy like "Anything Else." If you're a Woody Allen fan, you will enjoy this, even if you get a little frustrated for Jerry. As Dobel will tell you, never trust a naked bus driver. And life? Well, it's like anything else. Think about that.

db-155 At around 6.5. From what I've seen, the gist of an IMDb Woody Allen rating is that you can add two points to the film if you're a fan, and subtract two points if you're not.My first time seeing this on the small screen, through a sequential re-viewing of the entire works (most of which I'd seen before, but not this one). Of course it has some great lines, deep existential truths and some perfectly observed moments. This is why I would watch any Woody film, you never leave empty. On the other hand, Allen's tendency to ventriloquise any protagonist that isn't him is in full effect with Biggs not really up to the character's dialogue as written (whether this is a problem with writing, acting or casting doesn't really matter). Also, the early script often drags, as Allen's tendency to hammer home a relationship dynamic in the character setup makes for a lot of work in the first part of the film. I guess non-fans might be turned off by the lack of likable characters.In the end though, this one contained some gems in the writing; and insight into the way the world provides you with plenty of impetus to conform to a bad situation, but very little to move to a better one. Don't usually like to write a spoiler, but for me the obvious twist left undone in Allen's assault on authority is that HE should have ended up dating Ricci's character while sending Falk off for 'his own good'. As it is, Allen gave himself the easy out. He's a prick like that. But also one of the best film-makers that ever lived.