Anything Else - B+
Now Playing: (2003, Woody Allen) [seen in theatre]
Ahhhhhhh... so nice to see that Woody Allen still had a worthwhile film in him. Helps, I think, that he doesn't play the lead in this one, which doesn't bog him down by being the (or even a) fulcrum for the story, and more importantly, frees him up to be really funny. As in, funnier than he's been in over two decades funny. Jason Biggs doesn't get the laugh quotient Woody does here, but he's still good (certainly much better than I was expecting) in the lead role, a kinda-sorta-Woody-esque comedy writer. The story is basically him sorting out his relationship with Amanda (Christina Ricci) with help from various others in his life, especially Woody himself (the comic mensch character suits him quite nicely). Also goosing up the story are Stockard Channing as Ricci's free-love mother and Danny DeVito as Biggs' loser manager (I wasn't sure if his character's action in his final scene were meant to be real or an act- I mean that in the best way). Still, it's Woody's show, comedy-wise, giving himself some classic one-liners which, even when they hearken back to his classics, elicit nostalgia rather than eye-rolling from the audience. Strange, to see a movie stolen by its own director- nice to have you back, dude.