FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

oOoBarracuda Nestled in between two films that did almost nothing for me is a little-known gem, Anything Else. The film, released in 2003 starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci follows a doomed romance between a couple of neurotic individuals as they are finding their way in life chasing careers and happiness. Anything Else, written and directed by Woody Allen, is a prime example that there is something in Woody Allen's filmography for anyone. If you don't care for the reimagining of one life into both a comedy and a tragedy, or a scathing look at the personalities that are behind the Hollywood machine, then there's a romantic tragi-comedy in between. Again I'm stunned at the claim that Woody Allen is a one-dimensional filmmaker who repeatedly tells the same story. Woody has played with his story structure, genre-jumped, and embarked on many artistic exercises all the while maintaining his laser focus on life's big questions through his perfectly-penned scripts. Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs) is just beginning his career as a comedy writer under the mentorship of David Dobel (Woody Allen). Dobel, as he is referred to, has gone through a couple of careers, successfully holding himself back from pursuing comedy full time. Jerry and Dobel meet daily to discuss avenues for their comedy writing, as well as all of life's many issues. The main issue they seem to always discuss is the fact that Jerry has a problem severing ties with anyone. Jerry's still with the same leach of a manager he's been with his entire professional life, he remains in a relationship that he has been unhappy with for some time and continues to pay for meetings with a psychoanalyst who barely pays attention to Jerry during his sessions. Needless to say, Jerry has a problem cutting off relationships, even if they don't serve him. Early on in the film, we see Jerry meet Amanda (Christina Ricci) who is dating one of his friends at the time, and the two instantly fall in love. Jerry breaks the 4th wall to let the audience know that his relationship doesn't work out, however, and the rest of the film explores what caused their relationship to deteriorate and how Jerry can best approach the rest of his life to avoid reliving the disappointments he has already experienced. What I wouldn't give to be in Jerry's position and be able to occupy a park bench and have daily conversations with Woody Allen about philosophy. Although I dispel the notion that Woody Allen is a one- dimensional filmmaker, there are certain aspects of his craft that remain the same throughout each of his films, to the benefit of the audience. Certainly, no one would complain that Woody Allen's perfectly biting scripts, or his heavily jazz-influenced scores, or his willingness to explore the medium he chose continue to pop up through his entire filmography. I appreciate that Woody Allen continued to play with the story structure of his films and reuse those experiments that work. I've noted before that I enjoy a well- done breaking of the 4th wall, and Woody is certainly a director that can utilize that method effectively. What I also enjoy that others seem not to, is how Woody is constantly grappling with the issues in life he personally struggles with. Life's meaning has been grappled with through film in a number of different ways, and I don't think Woody's method should be looked down upon because it largely does so through comedy. A few of Woody Allen's films in a row, I've discovered through this retrospective project, have dealt with the idea of relationships and regret. Again in Anything Else we meet a protagonist who admits that he enters a relationship that is doomed to fail before it ever begins. Is this an exploration of the belief that self-sabotage saves us true disappointment? Could it be indicative of an idea that relationships limit the essential human spirit, effectively ending the pursuit of life's meaning because once a relationship begins we fill our lives with distractions and stop considering purpose? I can't pretend to know what Woody Allen is going for in his films, but I can say that I am happy he keeps exploring his ideas through his art.

gridoon2018 Neither one of Woody Allen's worst films, nor one of his best. It has a few laughs (-"Do you love me?" -"Of course, why do you ask? Because I pull away every time you try to touch me?"), some cinematically inventive moments (though nothing that Woody hadn't already done before in "Annie Hall"), and certain emotionally accurate observations. But it often feels like it's going around in circles without really getting anywhere. I decided to note down all the quote-worthy lines of this film - and they are in the single digits. And some stuff - like Allen's obsession with guns for self-defense - simply doesn't work at all. But other stuff - like the psychoanalyst who barely speaks - does work, Jason Biggs acquits himself admirably in the "younger Woody Allen" role, and as is to be expected from an Allen film, the cinematography and the music are a pleasure for the eyes and ears, respectively. **1/2 out of 4.

TheLittleSongbird Woody Allen is not for everyone but to me he is an interesting director who has a lot to say and does so in a funny, interesting and often in a painfully truthful way. He's done some masterpieces like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdeameanours, Hannah and Her Sisters, Husbands and Wives and Purple Rose of Cairo, some great ones like Zelig, Stardust Memories and Sleeper though also with a few disappointments with What's Up Tiger Lily, To Rome With Love, Celebrity and Cassandra's Dream. Anything Else did not hold up as well as September, Scoop and Curse of the Jade Scorpion on re-watch(all of which I didn't care for on first viewing) but for all the flaws there are in the film it is nowhere near as bad as expected after hearing it cited often as Allen's worst. Anything Else is one of the weakest Allen films of the ones seen so far(there's still a fair few to go yet) but it's a bit too soon to say it is his worst, considering that I did enjoy it over all of the films mentioned as disappointments that's unlikely. Starting with the many good things, as always with Woody Allen Anything Else is exceptionally well made visually, with beautiful locations and luminous photography. The jazz soundtrack is equally sublime, providing slinky and haunting undercurrents that suited the film brilliantly. Anything Else does have a script that is very distinctive of Woody Allen, there are some genuinely funny moments and of the sly kind, parts really make you think of the issues Allen addresses, there is a lot of truth in the dialogue and painfully so and there is a biting, scathing approach that is sharp enough to make their impact. Sure, a few jokes fall flat which will be mentioned later, but the script is just fine on the whole. The story is uneven but it mostly keeps at a good pace, it does have a good amount of charm(well considering that there is a very clear Annie Hall influence that wasn't surprising) and the sense that the relationship is doomed right from the start- something that Annie Hall did not have- gave some darkness and depth. The acting is good, with Christina Ricci particularly strong and she is well supported by Woody Allen(well mostly) and Danny DeVito who are both hilarious. The chemistry between the leads is very believable and wisely takes centre stage. It is easy though to see why people do not like Anything Else because the characters are written so scathingly(especially Ricci's and Stockard Channing's) and in a selfish and neurotic way that compared to other Allen films it's not as easy to connect with them, that was likely to be intentional but as can be seen in the reviews it will turn people off. Stockard Channing does her best and is funny and formidable, but her character is underwritten so you are left wishing that Channing had much more of note to work with. Jason Biggs's didn't really work for me personally, like Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity(except not as annoyingly) some of the performance did feel that, for somebody intentionally channelling Woody Allen himself, that it was too much of an impersonation and not really coming into his own. Not all the story works, with the miscarriage subplot feeling underplayed and the Jews subplot could easily have been much more toned down or scrapped altogether. It was in this subplot also where the weak link of the jokes were situated, the Holocaust jokes are quite crude and unsubtle for Allen and it won't bode well with some, a couple were on the offensive side actually. All in all, has problems but better than expected considering what has been said about it(which is very understandable and valid but it's from personal viewpoint not as bad as all that). 6/10 Bethany Cox

evanston_dad Simply terrible film from Woody Allen, perhaps the worst he ever made, challenging "Shadows and Fog" and "September" for that dubious honor.Allen's biggest mistake was in casting Jason Biggs as his central character. Biggs is just about as unappealing as actors come, and he's at his most unappealing when he's being asked to be Allen's stand in and deliver the neurotic Jew routine that's really only funny when Allen does it himself. He's not given a tremendous amount of help by Christina Ricci, ordinarily an actress I like but who's hampered by an uncharacteristically boring screenplay. Even in my least favorite Allen films, there's usually a joke or two or a sight gag that I remember, but "Anything Else" has absolutely nothing to recommend it.Grade: F