Grade: D
Being the huge fan of Woody Allen that I am, it saddens me to say that this is perhaps his most lackluster film to date. Woody Allen takes a supporting role as David Dobel, a mentor to a budding comedic writer named Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs), a spineless slug who can’t detach himself from his useless manager or loveless girlfriend, played by Danny DeVito and Christina Ricci respectively. In a nutshell, Anything Else is that it is impossible to like. The audience is supposed to sympathize with Jerry, even though his favorite pastime seems to be whining. Even the humor of Anything Else falls flat with an audible thud. When writing the movie, Woody Allen chose to give all his trademark one-liners to Biggs, who does his best to emulate Allen’s impeccable delivery but fails enormously. As the movie was playing out, I found myself asking the question which became the basis for my pan of the film: Why have imitation Woody Allen when you can still have the real thing?
© 2003 Jacob Sproul
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