Anything Else
List Price:
Our Price: $2.24
You Save: $7.74 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.65 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Christina Ricci, Danny DeVito, David Conrad, Jason Biggs, Stockard ChanningBrand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
Published: 2003-12-01
DVD Release Date: 2003-12-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
DVD Reviews of Anything Else
DVD Review: Not Vintage Woodman, but durable fun for Allan fans
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a devoted fan of Woody Allen's movies, and I am prepared to believe his films, even his very best, are not to everyone's tastes. What a predisposition to like Allen's movies buys me is the willingness to give this movie a second chance if it does not appeal to me on first viewing. And, I can honestly say that this movie has one of the very best qualities of any movie, in that it actually improves as you watch it for a second and third time.
Since Allen is famous for doing parodies of major dramatic genres, from 1930s German impressionism of `Shadows and Fog' to Renaissance fantasy in `A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy', so my first reaction to this movie was that it too was primarily a parody of modern light comedy, but it is not. The saying about taking coals to Newcastle comes to mind. Another first reaction was that many of the situations seemed a bit improbable. But then, I remembered situations in recent popular comedies where a 13 year old becomes 30 years old overnight, a mother and daughter switch bodies, and a very overweight black professor becomes very trim and obnoxious. All these movies are very funny, but they are also based on literally impossible situations. So what was I complaining about if it seems a bit improbable for a 60 year old high school teacher with a giant vocabulary and a history of psychotic violence is trying to break into the standup comedy joke writing profession.
This last description is a sketch of Woody Allen's character in this movie that, unlike almost all of his others where he has a role, is not the lead character. Rather, it supports the lead played by Jason Biggs who shares the spotlight with fellow teenage character specialist, Christina Ricci. Neither of these actors is drawn from Allen's usual pool of actors, since none of his usual late middle aged colleagues would have a chance at playing the 21-year-old characters. I have seen neither Biggs nor Ricci in any of their other movies, but I believe that they succeed very well here at playing largely innocent, unreflective young adults who do not yet have their lives nailed down to a solid foundation.
Biggs young gag writer character is being advised in several different directions by his nebbish agent, played with gusto as usual by Danny DeVito, his psychiatrist, and by Allen's character, whose advice usually wins out. The main action of the story is the young man's inability to be alone, leading him to fall in love with the immature siren Christina Ricci character, who is as disorganized with maintaining her emotional attachments as she is in managing her time, money, or mother. Most of the humor is generated by the goings on between these two characters, but great grins are also created by the really terrific performance by Stockard Channing as Ricci's mother.
In a sense, Biggs is playing Woody Allen of 40 years ago, as he appears in `Take the Money and Run', but without Allen's psychotic mischieviousness, as when Allen directs a parking driver to violently back into a parked car's headlights. Allen the writer reserves that grim humor for Allen the actor's character, especially when he smashes in the headlights and windshields of a car driven by two very heavily built young men who just stole a parking space from Allan's fire engine red Porsche.
`anything else', to my mind, is neither Allen's best or worst comedy, but it may be one of his best which combines comedy with serious, realistic human interaction. There is none of the fantasy hijinks of `Mighty Aphrodite' with its Greek chorus or even the Academy awarded `Annie Hall' with deux ex machina appearances of celebrities from behind movie cutouts. The only unusual device used in this movie is the Biggs' charter speaking directly to the audience, as if the audience was the only character in the room that really understands him. At least, it is the only character who can't talk back.
I agree with some other reviewers that Biggs and Ricci are not up to the quality of acting from veterans Channing and DeVito, but I thing their weak acting skills plays into their characters, who are not exactly strong people themselves, except that Biggs manages in the end to resolve his situation and free himself from immediate conflicts, with a little help from Woody's character.
As a comedy, this movie is a lot easier to take and to like than the dramatic `Husbands and Wives' or `Crimes and Misdemeanors', but it is more challanging than the comedies with easy gimmicks. Not quite as good as `Annie Hall' or `Manhattan', but well worth the viewing.
Description of Anything Else
A contemporary romantic comedy set in new york city about the relationship between an older guy and his younger protege. The older guy guides the younger through a messy and hilarious love story. In any relationship one person always does the heavy lifting. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Jason Biggs Christina Ricci Run time: 109 minutes Rating: R Director: Woody AllenChristina Ricci invigorates an even-more-neurotic-than-usual variation on the classic neurotic woman in this Woody Allen movie. Comedy writer Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs, American Pie) is madly in love with Amanda (Ricci, The Opposite of Sex), even though they haven't had sex in six months. Falk meets an older writer named Dobel (Allen) who becomes a sort of accidental mentor, encouraging him to break free of Amanda and his clinging agent (Danny DeVito). The pace is sluggish, almost every scene feels like an outtake from an earlier, better Woody Allen movie (particularly Annie Hall), Biggs never seems comfortable with his dialogue--only Ricci makes her character her own, giving her own perverse comic spin to the proceedings. About three-fourths of the way through the movie, the story starts to feel fresher and more compelling, but by then it's too late. Also featuring Jimmy Fallon and Stockard Channing. --Bret Fetzer
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Curse of the Jade ScorpionParamount; Release date: 2002-01-29; DVD
Best price: $17.73
Hollywood EndingDreamWorks; Release date: 2002-09-17; DVD
Best price: $15.95
CelebrityRelease date: 2012-02-14; DVD
Best price: $2.54
Price in other shops:
Don't Drink the WaterBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2003-07-01; Published: 2003-07-01; DVD
Best price: $3.72
Price in other shops:
Whatever WorksSony; Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $7.72
Price in other shops:
Husbands and WivesSony; Release date: 2002-04-16; DVD
Best price: $8.91
Price in other shops:
Cassandra's DreamWellspring Media INC; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
You Will Meet a Tall Dark StrangerSON; Release date: 2011-02-15; DVD
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Melinda and MelindaFERRELL,WILL; Release date: 2005-10-25; DVD
Best price: $2.31
Price in other shops:
ScoopNBC Universal; Release date: 2006-11-21; Published: 2006-11-01; DVD
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: