I REALLY enjoyed Anything Else. I haven't seen any of Allen's old stuff, but I've seen the newer stuff (Small Time Crooks, Jade Scorpion, and Hollywood Ending) and this was much better than any of them. Allen has a much smaller role in this one than the others and I think he really stood up much better as a supporting character than a lead. His quirkiness I think works better sprinkled throughout the film than as the main course. Also in a supporting role I thought DeVito did very well. He was entirely believable as the agent that's pitiful enough that you really would feel bad for dumping him.

Ricci plays the role of Amanda perfectly. She comes off funny, neurotic, and while not realistic, somehow totally believable.

Biggs’ character, Falk, worked pretty well, but he can’t really stand out the way the other actors do. Falk is just much more low-key than the other characters. Really my only problem with the film was Falk’s first couple asides to the camera, they came off more as narration than asides, but the later asides I felt fit in very well.

All in all though I really thought it was a very good film that managed to avoid the problems that Allen’s more recent films have suffered from.

One last note, for better or worse they did an amazing job of making it hard to know that Allen had anything at all to do with this film. I assume it was an attempt to set this apart from a “traditional Woody Allen” film, and I guess that’s true, this movie’s worth seeing even if you’re not a Woody Allen fan.

4 out of 4 stars