‘I was just saying how strange life is, how full of inexplicable mystery…’
I’ve never really chimed with the films of Woody Allen. I admired both Manhattan and Annie Hall without ever giving myself over to them completely, I enjoyed Midnight in Paris at the time, but I can’t recall much about it now, and his persona non grata status in Hollywood following a string of allegations has done little to change my mind. I watched Anything Else, his little seen 2003 comedy, because I love Jason Biggs and I love Christina Ricci. Unfortunately, even they can’t save this movie…
Jerry Falk (Biggs) is madly in love with his girlfriend, Amanda (Ricci), but the two of them are having problems. Beleaguered and exhausted, Falk turns to his older friend, David Dobel (Allen) for advice.
I think one of the issues I have with Allen’s films is the same problem I have with the oeuvre of Noah Baumbach – I just find it very difficult to care about the problems of privileged, rich people from New York. Sure, it’s sad to see Jerry and Amanda slip out of love, but look at the life they lead? I would have more sympathy for this picture if it was funny or interesting, but, too often, it is neither. Allen’s musings on life and love come across as stale here, a bad cover version of his best work, and while Biggs is an excellent comic performer, he is an awkward fit for this world. I never really believed that the dialogue he espouses is something that his character would say. Ricci fares better – chain smoking and belligerent, overly sexed and yet vulnerable – but the pair are not convincing enough together to drag the audience along across 108 often punishing minutes.
Anything Else is a film that thinks it is charming, but actually is quite off-putting and difficult to like. In that respect, it is very much a Woody Allen creation.
