Anything Else

Director: Woody Allen Woody Allen

Overview

"Woody Allen's romantic comedy Anything Else found the director looking to some young cast members (Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci) to reinvigorate his familiar themes. The film comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Darius Khondji's excellent cinematography comes through gloriously on the small screen thanks to this transfer. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. As with every Woody Allen film to come to DVD thus far, there are minimal extras. Biographies of the cast and the crew, and production notes provide color if not much depth into the process of making the film. This is a fine release from DreamWorks."

Product Details

Release Date:	12/23/2003
UPC:	0678149085228
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	R
Source:	Dreamworks Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:49:00
Sales rank:	44,956

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jason Biggs	Jerry Falk
Christina Ricci	Amanda
Woody Allen	David Dobel
Danny DeVito	Harvey
Stockard Channing	Paula
KaDee Strickland	Brooke
David Conrad	Dr. Reed
Jimmy Fallon	Bob
William Hill	Psychiatrist
Erica Leerhsen	Connie
Zach McLurty	Ralph
Diana Krall	Herself
Fisher Stevens	Manager
Adrian Grenier	Ray Polito
Anthony Arkin	Pip's Comic
Maurice Sonnenberg	Movie Theater Patron
Kenneth Edelson	Hotel Desk Clerk
Joseph Lyle Taylor	Bill
Anthony J. Ribustello	Car Thug
Ray Garvey	Car Thug
Wynter Kullman	Emily
Ralph Pope	Cab Driver
Glenn Close	Actor

Technical Credits

Woody Allen

Woody Allen	Screenwriter,Director
Letty Aronson	Producer
Jay Carrado	Stunts
Charles H. Joffe	Executive Producer,Producer
Ronald Ottesen	Special Effects,Special Effects
Jack Rollins	Executive Producer,Producer
Laura Rosenthal	Casting
Manny Siverio	Stunts
Juliet Taylor	Casting
Stephen Tenenbaum	Executive Producer,Producer
Benny Medina	Producer
Helen Robin	Producer
Gary Alper	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Ryan Collison	Sound Effects
Lee Dichter	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Woody Allen's Anything Else is a decent effort, especially when comparing it to Allen films from the same period. The lifeless Hollywood Ending and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion showed a filmmaker whose muse may have left once and for all, but Anything Else corrals some of Allen's most familiar themes and allows him to show some life. Jason Biggs is well cast as Jerry Falk. He comes off like an everyman, offering the perfect counterpoint to the crazies that orbit his world. Even though he has been given dialogue that often rings of old-school Allen, Biggs generally avoids imitating Allen's familiar vocal tics. Christina Ricci is a familiar Allen female -- a sexually voracious, emotionally troubled, attractive woman who brings out the worst in the men who become entangled with her. Ricci, however, is so appealing, and is photographed so adoringly, that she makes the character as sympathetic as possible. Even Allen the filmmaker seems to have been won over by her. Allen the actor takes on a role that is simultaneously familiar, while still being unlike any he has played before. David Dobell is not a cute neurotic, he's a violent paranoid psychotic. This lends an edge to the stereotypical "the world is aligned against me" schtick Allen has mastered, which it had been lacking for a while. Any Allen fan will recognize the recycling of elements from Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, and Manhattan. If the old saying that artists steal rather than borrow is true, at least Woody is pilfering from some of his best work.