Anything Else
February 2004 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

At the beginning of this movie, Woody Allen is sitting on a bench in Central Park, spouting words of wisdom to Jason Biggs. For an instant, there’s hope that some of the neurotic whimsy of his earlier Manhattan might be in the offing, but alas, no. As a younger man, Allen was an amusing, crazed personality, but as an older man doing the same shtick, he rapidly becomes quarrelsome.

Yet Allen is the best thing about this film, and occasionally the funny one-liners bring a chuckle. But there are arid places in between when Biggs and Christina Ricci play limply at relationships. Biggs portrays a young writer named Jerry Falk, who is a loser in that he never steps out on his own. He has an inept manager, Harvey, to whom he pays a huge percentage of his wages, and then he has Ricci, the girlfriend from hell: an immature young woman who cannot commit fully to a relationship. And Falk is caught; he cannot and will not leave.

Jerry meets David Dobel (Allen), who is also a comedy writer. Dobel becomes Falk’s odd guru, an eccentric who gives crazy advice, which Jerry nonetheless follows. Biggs is asked to play his role as a young Allen, complete with the nervous, neurotic persona Allen himself played in earlier movies. Having the real Allen and this pseudo Allen together simply does not work, and makes Biggs come off poorly. Danny DeVito, as Harvey, and Stockard Channing, as Ricci’s mom, handle the character roles with expertise. On learning that his contract will not be renewed, DeVito throws a spectacular fit in the restaurant where their conversation takes place, chewing every piece of scenery he can get his chops on. Channing is perfect as the older mom who wants to make a comeback as a torch singer, and attends AA meetings, only to pick up a younger man who gets her strung out on cocaine.

To Allen’s credit as both writer and director, the relationships in the movie are handled realistically, unlike those in most Hollywood fare. But there are just too many dead spots. The whole effort seems tired around the edges most of the time, and in the center at a few points as well.

The video transfer is breathtaking. There are many scenes where the camera fronts Allen and Biggs as they talk and walk through Central Park and other New York locations. Whether it’s railings, fences, grass, passersby, trees, the detail is astonishing, and the contrast and color balance perfect. This movie was shot in Panavision, one of the few Allen has made since Manhattan to be filmed that wide, which makes one wonder if he wanted it to be a companion piece.

We surely will not know from an interview, because there are no interviews among the skimpy extras. There are complete biographies, something we do not see too often on DVD these days, and a frame-by-frame printed discussion of the production, and that’s it. But given the splendid transfer and the good performances from Channing and DeVito, I would say by all means rent it, watch it, then return it. I doubt many will want to watch it again, right away, or even in the distant future.

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