Igual a Tudo na Vida

This expertly done film has the marketed trappings of a romantic comedy, but as usual the advertising is misleading. "Anything Else" is not a light romp or a gentle farce like some may expect. This is a dark and funny look at today's selfish, chaotic and often violent world. It's about the uncertainty of intention; it's about trusting one's instincts over the words and appearances of others, and it's about learning to survive on one's own. Woody Allen pulls no punches and follows things through to their inevitable end, even allowing his own supporting character to rage blindly and possibly wrongly against the all-encompassing hatred he sees everywhere he goes. Soaked in fecund greens, New York City stands in for the unknown, wild and indifferent jungle (with Central Park as its heart). So it is no coincidence that Woody drives a bright red Porsche that roars like an animal; and it is particularly apt that the car he demolishes out of rage and a sense of justice is green.

Yet the filmmaker allows this kind of paranoia to be suspect. He challenges the fruition of distrusting everyone--even though in many cases throughout the film, the bitterness, rejection and anger are warranted.

Many critics dismiss "Anything Else" as old jokes rehashed or even "unwatchable." I'm not sure what film they saw. I wanted to go back in the moment it ended. Yes, Woody revisits the themes of his previous films. He is an artist. Love and death, infidelity and sex are his motifs. Nobody throws out Hitchcock's later films because they were once again about the wrong man or some guy with a crazy mother. This is a cerebral, subversive movie. It has its one-liners and its rhythm of performance, complete with incredulous stuttering by Jason Biggs and a whiny Christina Ricci as an inscrutable actress. But the film is fresh and strong and--as typical of original art--completely underrated.

Yes, I admit to being a Woody Allen fan. Yes, I agree that his movies are uneven and have not all been up to the great standards of Annie Hall or Hannah. So I saw this on video, since it slipped out of the theaters quickly. And having read the IMDB reviews, I was prepared for the worse. The good news is that Mr Allen has recovered from whatever it was that was interfering with his muse. The picture is a classic Woody Allen film: fine acting, wonderful lines and gags, an ongoing psychoanalytical situation, dysfunctional relationships, funny situations, and Woody himself in a suitable role as a crazy guy, but the only "sane" one in the film. I would also add that the scenes of New York, including Manhattan and Brooklyn, were breathtakingly beautiful.

Critics now seem to enjoy dissing Woody, whatever his output. Maybe that's the price of a long, fruitful career. Ignore them and enjoy his films. Long may he present his gifts to us.

Ok, the man is an establishment. That's what keeps this movie from being vague, shallow and void. Woody Allen can claim for himself his kind of movies, and nobody else does them like he does. So, when you see a Woody Allen movie, you know precisely what you are going to get, the difference being sometimes more surprised, and sometimes less. Well, here there's no surprise, except the way that Allen seeks new talent and awards them with the typical alter ego role. It's up to them to prove that they can handle it. Kenneth Branagh did it, John Cusack did it, and now Jason Biggs is the nervous new yorker who goes to psycho analysis. Well, it works, but the truth is that Biggs' character behaves like a 35-year-old trapped in a 21-year-old body. And the fact that some of the movie doesn't make much sense, you can never forget that this is the realm of Woody Allen, and even if it doesn't make sense, it's always funny and you'll always laugh. Everybody remembers the plotless "Everybody Says I Love You" but no one cared for the plot. It was entertaining. Same here. Sometimes I'd wish that Woody Allen tried a little harder to make movies with a thicker plot - remember "Bullets Over Broadway". But anyway, this movie is a permanent joy to watch, thanks to the great actors, great comedy (even with a non-existent story) and a great photography from Darius Khondji.

Woody Allen steps back from himself in ANYTHING ELSE and turns center stage over to a couple of young protagonists who are allowed to thrash around and make their own mistakes, with only a little kibitzing from the side by Woody. In the process, the film tackles all of the larger issues of life, love, ethics and the loneliness of man in the universe that Woody has grappled with, in varying degrees of clarity, in so many of his earlier films, but does it in a way that charms and tickles the audience and, ultimately, reassures them. While Woody's character has a dark, paranoid streak to him, the film is nowhere near as bitter and acidic (nor as profound) as DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1997), the last film of Allen's to address these issues head-on.

Woody plays a sage/mentor to a young comedy writer who's trying to write a dark, existential novel. The writer, Jerry Falk (played by Jason Biggs of AMERICAN PIE fame), is saddled with a clinging manager (Danny DeVito), who keeps using inappropriate (but amusing) Garment Center metaphors, and is mired in a hopeless relationship with Amanda, a whirlwind of a young woman who sucks people into her life and then treats them badly. Played to perfection by Christina Ricci, Amanda is smart, seductive, and clearly exciting to be around, but is a bundle of deadly neuroses that will take a lifetime to untangle. We see her future self reflected in her narcissistic, childlike mother (Stockard Channing in a wonderful comic supporting performance), who comes to stay with the couple early in the film.

It's all about Jerry coming to grips with who he is, what he wants to do, and what it will take for him to get there. And it's Woody, playing a schoolteacher near retirement age who wants to tackle a comedy writing career late in life for himself, who serves as the catalyst for Jerry. Thus, the movie encapsulates, in, perhaps, an overly tidy fashion, the broad advice Woody wants to dispense to the younger members of his audience. While it's occasionally cartoonish and sometimes veers narrowly toward the heavy-handed, it also gives us a more confident and lively Woody, one who is freed from the self-imposed demands of being the romantic lead. Overall, it's a delightful, charming, funny and genuinely touching film which not only makes very good use of its young stars, but also of its writer-director-co-star-turned elder statesman.

How do I begin to describe this movie ? Well, I think the best comparison I can make is that it's sort of like light beer. Please allow me to explain. You see light beer has fewer calories, and is drunk by folks who are trying to lose weight. However, these same folks usually drink double the amount, or more. Thus, eliminating the word "light" from the pure definition. This movie is basically the same thing, good thought and intention, only to be overwhelmed with no true logic. That doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy this movie, because I did - very much actually. It just seems to me that all of the most recent Woody Allen movies are pretty much the same film, only the wardrobes of the era change.

I thought Christina Ricci was at her best in this film as well as Jason Biggs. They were both solid in their roles. On a scale of 1-10, I give this movie 8 pairs of those Woody Allen retro eyeglasses. See this film, you will enjoy it, but remember this is a Woody Allen movie - Don't say I didn't warn you.