oOoBarracuda Nestled in between two films that did almost nothing for me is a little-known gem, Anything Else. The film, released in 2003 starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci follows a doomed romance between a couple of neurotic individuals as they are finding their way in life chasing careers and happiness. Anything Else, written and directed by Woody Allen, is a prime example that there is something in Woody Allen's filmography for anyone. If you don't care for the reimagining of one life into both a comedy and a tragedy, or a scathing look at the personalities that are behind the Hollywood machine, then there's a romantic tragi-comedy in between. Again I'm stunned at the claim that Woody Allen is a one-dimensional filmmaker who repeatedly tells the same story. Woody has played with his story structure, genre-jumped, and embarked on many artistic exercises all the while maintaining his laser focus on life's big questions through his perfectly-penned scripts. Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs) is just beginning his career as a comedy writer under the mentorship of David Dobel (Woody Allen). Dobel, as he is referred to, has gone through a couple of careers, successfully holding himself back from pursuing comedy full time. Jerry and Dobel meet daily to discuss avenues for their comedy writing, as well as all of life's many issues. The main issue they seem to always discuss is the fact that Jerry has a problem severing ties with anyone. Jerry's still with the same leach of a manager he's been with his entire professional life, he remains in a relationship that he has been unhappy with for some time and continues to pay for meetings with a psychoanalyst who barely pays attention to Jerry during his sessions. Needless to say, Jerry has a problem cutting off relationships, even if they don't serve him. Early on in the film, we see Jerry meet Amanda (Christina Ricci) who is dating one of his friends at the time, and the two instantly fall in love. Jerry breaks the 4th wall to let the audience know that his relationship doesn't work out, however, and the rest of the film explores what caused their relationship to deteriorate and how Jerry can best approach the rest of his life to avoid reliving the disappointments he has already experienced. What I wouldn't give to be in Jerry's position and be able to occupy a park bench and have daily conversations with Woody Allen about philosophy. Although I dispel the notion that Woody Allen is a one- dimensional filmmaker, there are certain aspects of his craft that remain the same throughout each of his films, to the benefit of the audience. Certainly, no one would complain that Woody Allen's perfectly biting scripts, or his heavily jazz-influenced scores, or his willingness to explore the medium he chose continue to pop up through his entire filmography. I appreciate that Woody Allen continued to play with the story structure of his films and reuse those experiments that work. I've noted before that I enjoy a well- done breaking of the 4th wall, and Woody is certainly a director that can utilize that method effectively. What I also enjoy that others seem not to, is how Woody is constantly grappling with the issues in life he personally struggles with. Life's meaning has been grappled with through film in a number of different ways, and I don't think Woody's method should be looked down upon because it largely does so through comedy. A few of Woody Allen's films in a row, I've discovered through this retrospective project, have dealt with the idea of relationships and regret. Again in Anything Else we meet a protagonist who admits that he enters a relationship that is doomed to fail before it ever begins. Is this an exploration of the belief that self-sabotage saves us true disappointment? Could it be indicative of an idea that relationships limit the essential human spirit, effectively ending the pursuit of life's meaning because once a relationship begins we fill our lives with distractions and stop considering purpose? I can't pretend to know what Woody Allen is going for in his films, but I can say that I am happy he keeps exploring his ideas through his art.

Wuchak I like some latter-day Woody Allen films like 2005's excellent "Match Point" and even 2006's "Scoop," which is amusing, but I don't like 2008's "Anything Else" too much. It stars Jason Briggs as Jerry, a fledgling New York writer with an inept agent (Danny DeVito). As Jerry starts a relationship with a loose girl (Christina Ricci) he gets counsel from an older writer with a great vocabulary named Dobel (Allen), usually while walking Central Park. Stockard Channing plays the girl's irritating mother and a young Jimmy Fallon has a cameo.While Briggs is a quality protagonist, the only parts of "Anything Else" I actually enjoyed are the ones focusing on Jerry and Dobel's mentee/mentor relationship. The movie's dialogue-driven and Dobel uses a lot of obscure terminology so I recommend using the subtitles to keep up with it, as well as the low-key humor, which is quite entertaining. It's also great seeing Erica Leerhsen in a small role.Unfortunately, the movie's done-in by a couple of thoroughly unlikable characters, particularly Ricci's character. Christina looks great and is a fit as can be, but her slutty character is a mass of conflicting impulses. Her actions are controlled by whether or not she's excited by her sexual partner and, of course, only a new partner excites her, which means no sexual relations with Jerry once he becomes "old hat." While she's looking to find excitement elsewhere Jerry does everything he can to keep the relationship going, which is hard to do when the girl's obnoxious mother is living in the same apartment. Not only is it frustrating for Jerry to deal with this situation, it's frustrating for the viewer as well. No doubt these types of aggravating people and relationships are the point of the movie, and it IS amusing to a point, but it naturally makes the viewing experience aggravating as well; and few people want that. Not to mention sympathy for Jerry only goes so far; after all, he's the fool who dropped his perfectly suitable mate (KaDee Strickland) to pursue the sexy-but-unfaithful new girl. In short, he's sleeping in the bad he made.The film runs 108 minutes and was shot entirely in New York City.GRADE: C-

fongelias Watch anything but Anything Else. I am a huge fan of Woody Allen, but this film is one of the worst that I've seen.One of the things I generally like about Woody Allen films is how organic they all feel. The characters are people we know in our lives, and one of the ways that Woody allows them to feel that way is by allowing them to speak with natural inflections.There is too much of that with the characters of Anything Else. They're so awkward that its uncomfortable to watch, and the things that occur during the film feel unnatural and exaggerated. It seems more like a cheap imitation of the standard that I hold Woody Allen to.So TL;DR, Watch anything else.

tishado I was very surprised to see this in the theater after having seen the 6.4 score on IMDb. Maybe my expectations were way exceeded so I mistakenly think this is great, but I don't think that is the case. We had a great time-the movie was thoughtful, funny, ambiguous, thought-provoking, had great acting-about anything you could ask for from Woody Allen. Maybe I don't get out often enough but I laughed pretty hard at some of the jokes (once to tears) and walked away from this movie thinking a lot about life. Christina Ricci did a great job, rising to her potential. Allen also had one of the best roles I have seen him play in a long time. All I can imagine is that there are some people out there scoring subjectively(perhaps disappointed that this is not their favorite Woody Allen movie) and not in any absolute sense.