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I’ll be honest; when I was assigned to review the new Woody Allen movie “Anything Else,” I hadn’t even heard of it. But even though I had mixed feelings about sitting through an Allen flick, I went to the theater with an open mind.
Prior to going, I did a little research, and the trailer they had at Fandango.com made it sound like a pretty good comedy. So I sat in the dark and held my breath, hoping I’d be surprised, despite my misgiving.
After the first two scenes, however, I regretted dragging friends with me. I knew this experience would be painful. So I just “closed my eyes, gritted my teeth, and laid still” imagining I was anywhere else, while the film ran its course.
The one redeeming value to this plot-less, waste of a theater-goer’s money was the amazing cast. But, even top notch actors like Danny Devito and Stockard Channing could not save the horribly boring characters they portrayed. Their talents were tragically wasted.
Allen’s character, David Dobel, ranted and raved throughout the movie to the point that every time he opened his mouth, I wanted to smack him.
You want to feel sorry for Jason Biggs’ character, up and coming screen writer Jerry Falk, but you really can’t. He is just as bad, if not worse than the characters screwing up his life. You really have no idea why some of them are even there except to make this poor guy’s existence as miserable an experience as possible.
Devito plays Jerry Falk’s manager, whose only client is Falk himself. Christina Ricci plays Jerry Falk’s girlfriend, Amanda, who spends the whole movie giving Jerry blue balls because she is having arousal issues. Channing plays Amanda’s mother, a character who does manage to shine when she brings home her 26-year-old boyfriend and snorts cocaine with her daughter.
Biggs, who got his big break in the “American Pie” series, was a huge disappointment as the leading man in “Anything Else.” Everything about his character, from his badly scripted lines to an ill-fitting wardrobe, only served as another painful reminder of the actor’s wasted potential.
The total randomness and lack of humor in this movie make it one to be avoided, despite the all-star cast. In all honesty, “Anything Else” is anything but entertaining.
Bangor Daily News