Absolutely Anything

The absolute power of wish fulfillment has been connected to many beings, genie and god among others, but now even aliens can make one's wish come true. Absolutely Anything is a simple film blessed with nifty premise and charming charismatic lead in Simon Pegg. It's a light casual watch that surprisingly heartwarming and incredibly witty beyond the occasional quirky display, even though the premise doesn't have much depth.

Neil (Simon Pegg) is an ordinary teacher who has been given ultimate power by a group of aliens for the purpose of judging the entire earth. The plot and cast are rather familiar, including the love interest by Kate Beckinsale along with the usual best friend and silly talking dog. It's pretty hard to fail on delivering a talking dog, especially voiced by Robin Williams.

First and foremost, the humor is fun and fairly amusing. The script offers some ridiculous situations, often presenting these scenes for Simon Pegg to shine, and that he does. His character is utterly identifiable, wishing assortments of petty stuffs and ending up with stupid mistakes by simple poor choice of words. Some of these might feel overdone and the movie just goes for the boundary of safe route.

Pegg also seems like able to crate chemistry with the cast, and everyone is quite likable, aside from a few over-the-top moments for a couple of them. The movie doesn't venture into deep thought about absolute power or the logic of bending reality, it merely a mild enjoyment with nice characters, most of whom work in platonic relationship. One extra credit for the presentation is how the visual looks sophisticated, it uses the scenery of England and the special effects fairly well.

Absolutely Anything is a much humbler film than the title suggests, it provides ample of light entertainment with a commendable performance by Simon Pegg even if the premise feels outdated towards the end. Plus, having Robin Williams again, even in doggy form is a nice treat.

8.25 of 10. Amusing, alien-based soft-science fiction. Not as intricate as Douglas Adams' classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or its 2005 adaptation, but delivers in almost every other way. It's too bad it wasn't developed a little more and made into a longer film.

Besides Simon Pegg being the ideal pick for the lead character, Robin Williams doing another post-death cameo as the voice of a dog character - speaking, thinking animals being another favorite of Adams - adds a lot of fun and post-film credits enjoyment to a story about humans getting in the way of our alien overlords.

More than just comedy or sci-fi-light, there's some excellent satire, subtexts, and recursive comprehension built into the film, making it one of the rare alien, animal-speaking films that are almost believable.

What should I start with ? Oh, yes, I don't really get the mediocre score and reviews for this movie. Yeah, it's not another Holymollywood show (thank heavens!), it's not amazing in any way, but it does great at being a simple, enjoyable and funny movie to watch with your family. Both Simon Pegg and Kate are lovely to watch here.

You can just sit, relax and have a fun time. It clearly doesn't try to be smart or serious, people should understand this. There's also a tiny but nice message in it, that once understood, makes a better image of it all. If you enjoyed "Hector and the search for happiness", you should give this one a try. We need more movies like this!

This film tells the story of a teacher who suddenly finds himself having the power of making absolutely anything come true. He uses his power to make his life better, but it turns out that great powers come with great burden and responsibilities as well.

Simon Pegg's character unfortunately does not quite know how to use his new almighty power, and bumps into a lot of mistakes. The plot could have been entertaining, but I think the potential for a good comedy is not fully capitalised. The American soldier is quite funny, Kate Beckinsale as the love interest is engaging, but the alien subplot is quite ridiculous. I would rather the aliens have nothing to do with this plot! Otherwise, "Absolutely Anything" is a plain film with some laughs, but nothing very memorable.

Absolutely Anything is a funny enough light comedy that seems better thanks to its notorious cast but unfortunately is a bit subdued to 'wow'.

Simon Pegg plays Neil Clarke, an unassuming teacher who has a crush on his neighbor and hates his job and boss. Little does he know that aliens are circling the planet, ready to put it to the test. One lucky human gets the power to do absolutely anything, and if they use the power for good then great, if they use it for bad, well then the aliens blow up the planet. Seems fair enough.

For those Jim Carrey fans out there, the idea behind Absolutely Anything is strikingly similar to 2003's Bruce Almighty. But unlike the Americans, the Brits are far more restrained in their use of absolute power and complete command of the universe. Neil just wants the simple things, to mess with his friends and maybe improve his work and body sitch. In fact, the ways in which Neil uses his complete power is almost too restrained and basically ends up making the film feel like a missed opportunity.

There are several decisions the producers made that really optimized the film, like getting the Monty Python gang to voice the aliens and Robin Williams to voice Neil's pet dog Dennis. Between their comedy chops and Simon Pegg, it seems impossible for this film to be bland, but it is. It seems as though the film strictly follows the script, leaving very little improvisational wiggle room which is where all the aforementioned talents shine. The comedy of Absolutely Anything is fine, entertaining and delightful, but not memorable or laugh- out- loud funny either.

Ultimately, Absolutely Anything suffers from a lack of creativity and originality in its comedy. It is amusing but average, and in the sea of films released annually, you won't even give it a second thought.

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