Review of Anything Else (2003) by Richard D — 05 Feb 2018
Jason Biggs stars as a struggling comedy writer whose life is not really going anywhere. He's living with Christina Ricci, who he's desperately attracted to, but she treats him badly and seems to be cheating on him.
His agent, Danny DeVito, charges him too much for mediocre service. He befriends a much older comedy writer played by Woody Allen, who offers him advice and pushes him to improve his life, even though he might also be more than a little crazy.
Like a lot of Allen's films from this period, this film kind of works despite being a shaky premise that kind of lazily executed. Biggs is probably the least impressive actor to ever act as an Allen stand in, and he's too lightweight to ever really be believable in this role.
Ricci is very good, and may never have looked better on film, but her character is drastically underwritten. She's more of a plot device than a real character. Allen not surprisingly gives himself all of the best material in this film, but he's also really just a plot device that spews jokes.
Despite all this, the film is sporadically amusing and entertaining. It feels like he's retreading familiar ground, but it's ground he treads very well.
This review of Anything Else (2003) was written by Richard D on 05 Feb 2018.
Anything Else has generally received mixed reviews.
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