Editing Anything Else

{{Short description|2003 film by Woody Allen}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Anything Else
| image          = Anythingelseposter.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Woody Allen]]
| writer         = Woody Allen
| producer       = [[Letty Aronson]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* Woody Allen
* [[Jason Biggs]]
* [[Stockard Channing]]
* [[Danny DeVito]]
* [[Jimmy Fallon]]
* [[Christina Ricci]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Darius Khondji]]
| editing        = [[Alisa Lepselter]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* Perdido Productions
* Gravier Productions
}}
| distributor    = [[DreamWorks Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|2003|08|27|[[60th Venice International Film Festival|Venice]]|2003|09|19|United States}}
| runtime        = 108 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $18 million<ref>{{cite web |title= Anything Else (2003) – Financial Information |url= https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Anything-Else#tab=summary |website= [[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]] |access-date= 2020-05-10 |archive-date= 2019-10-17 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191017162239/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Anything-Else#tab=summary |url-status= live}}</ref>
| gross          = $13.6 million<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0313792/ |title=Anything Else (2003) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=December 11, 2023}}</ref>
}}
'''''Anything Else''''' is a 2003 American [[romantic comedy]] film written and directed by [[Woody Allen]], produced by [[Letty Aronson]], and starring Allen, [[Jason Biggs]], [[Stockard Channing]], [[Danny DeVito]], [[Jimmy Fallon]], and [[Christina Ricci]]. The film premiered as the opening night selection of the [[60th Venice International Film Festival]]. It was released theatrically in the United States on September 19, 2003, to mixed reviews.

==Plot==
Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer living in New York City, has a girlfriend, Brooke. He falls in love with Amanda and has an affair with her. Brooke learns of Jerry's infidelity and leaves him, while Amanda leaves her own boyfriend for Jerry. Jerry turns to aging, struggling artist David Dobel, who acts as his mentor, which includes trying to help sort out Jerry's romantic life. Dobel says that when he told a cab driver of all his anxieties and phobias in life, the cab driver told him, "It's like anything else".

Dobel tries to convince Jerry that his manager is only holding him back and his relationship with Amanda is the most destructive force in his life. Amanda continuously cheats on Jerry. Amanda leaves and then comes back. Jerry's neuroses start to worsen. Eventually, Jerry leaves town as Dobel gets him a job writing for television in California. Amanda has an affair with the doctor who was treating her and runs off with him. He sees them together laughing as she once did with him as the cab is taking him towards the airport. Jerry talks to the cabbie of love and relationships. The cabbie simply replies, "It's like anything else".

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Woody Allen]] as David Dobel
* [[Jason Biggs]] as Jerry Falk
* [[Stockard Channing]] as Paula Chase
* [[Danny DeVito]] as Harvey Wexler
* [[Jimmy Fallon]] as Bob Stiles
* [[Christina Ricci]] as Amanda Chase
* Anthony Arkin as Pip's Comic
* [[David Conrad]] as Phil Reed
* [[Adrian Grenier]] as Ray Polito
* William Hill as Psychiatrist
* [[Erica Leerhsen]] as Connie
* [[Fisher Stevens]] as Manager
* Joseph Lyle Taylor as Bill
* [[KaDee Strickland]] as Brooke
* [[Diana Krall]] as herself
}}

==Reception==
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on reviews from 136 critics, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Too many elements from better Woody Allen films are being recycled here."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anything_else |title= Anything Else |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= December 11, 2023}}</ref> [[Metacritic]], which uses a [[Weighted arithmetic mean|weighted average]], assigned the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/anything-else |title= Anything Else |website= [[Metacritic]] |access-date= April 2, 2020}}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade C− on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= Anything Else (2003) C− |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film three stars out of four, and wrote: "At a time when so many American movies keep dialogue at a minimum so they can play better overseas, what a delight to listen to smart people whose conversation is like a kind of comic music."<ref>{{cite news |last= Ebert |first= Roger |author-link= Roger Ebert |title= Anything Else movie review & film summary (2003) |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anything-else-2003 |newspaper= [[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date= September 19, 2003 |access-date= 2020-05-10 |via= [[RogerEbert.com]] |archive-date= 2020-06-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200607155712/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anything-else-2003 |url-status= live}}</ref>
James Berardinelli of ''ReelViews'' wrote: "''Anything Else'' may not be the second coming of ''[[Annie Hall]]'', but it has more wit and substance than almost every post-college romance that sees the inside of a projection booth".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/anything_else.html |title=Review: Anything else |website=ReelViews |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030921063111/http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/anything_else.html |archive-date=21 September 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
David Stratton of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "The younger casting brings a freshness to the material and, with Allen as the weird mentor, there are plenty of laughs, even if the pacing's slow and the running time over-extended."<ref>{{cite magazine |date= 28 August 2003 |last= Stratton |first= David |title= Anything Else |url= https://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/anything-else-1200539758/ |magazine= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date= 10 May 2020 |archive-date= 28 June 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170628215031/http://variety.com/2003/film/reviews/anything-else-1200539758/ |url-status= live}}</ref>

Mike Clark of ''[[USA Today]]'' was critical of the characterizations, the music, the length ("brutally overlong"), but praised the actors for their performances: "It's asking a lot of audiences to spend nearly two hours with characters as screen-unfriendly as the ones played by Biggs and Ricci, though both actors (and especially Ricci) do what they're asked to do." Clark also says the film "sounds as if it ought to be funny, but like so much else here, intent and execution keep missing each other." and complains that the misery of the story is not tempered by sufficient laughs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Allen's 'Anything Else' is a test of patience |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2003-09-18-anything-else_x.htm |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |access-date=2020-05-10 |archive-date=2020-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927234323/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2003-09-18-anything-else_x.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

In August 2009, it was cited by [[Quentin Tarantino]] as one of his favorite 20 films since 1992, when his career as a filmmaker began.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://movieline.com/2009/08/17/quentin-tarantino-deems-forgotten-jason-biggs-movie-one-of-the-best-films-of-all-time/ |title= Quentin Tarantino: Forgotten Jason Biggs Movie is One of the Best Films of All Time |access-date= January 7, 2013 |website= [[Movieline]] |date= 17 August 2009 |archive-date= May 15, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130515103617/http://movieline.com/2009/08/17/quentin-tarantino-deems-forgotten-jason-biggs-movie-one-of-the-best-films-of-all-time/ |url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date= August 17, 2009 |last= Brown |first= Lane |title= Team America, Anything Else Among the Best Movies of the Past Seventeen Years, Claims Quentin Tarantino |url= https://www.vulture.com/2009/08/speed_and_team_america_among_q.html |website= [[Vulture (website)|Vulture]] |access-date= May 10, 2020 |url-access= limited |archive-date= February 13, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130213073053/http://www.vulture.com/2009/08/speed_and_team_america_among_q.html |url-status= live}}</ref>

[[Leonard Maltin]], in his ''TV, Movie, & Video Guide'', gave the film a "BOMB" rating (the only Allen-directed film ever to receive this citation), and called it "a rare misfire for Woody, but still a big one".<ref>{{cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Maltin|date=2009|title=Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780451227645|url-access=registration|isbn=978-1-101-10660-0|publisher=Signet Books|location=New York City}}</ref>
In 2016, film critics [[Robbie Collin]] and Tim Robey of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' ranked ''Anything Else'' as one of the worst movies by Woody Allen.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Robbie|last1=Collin|author-link=Robbie Collin|first2=Tim|last2=Robey|title=All 47 Woody Allen movies – ranked from worst to best|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/woody-allens-best-and-worst-movies/|access-date=February 12, 2017|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=October 12, 2016|archive-date=January 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118143535/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/woody-allens-best-and-worst-movies/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* "Easy to Love" - Written by [[Cole Porter]] - Performed by [[Billie Holiday]] with [[Teddy Wilson]] & his Orchestra
* "Gat I" - Written and performed by [[Ravi Shankar]]
* "It Could Happen to You" - Written by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]] & [[Jimmy Van Heusen]] - Performed by [[Diana Krall]]
* "Gone with the Wind" - Written by [[Herb Magidson]] & [[Allie Wrubel]] - Performed by [[Wes Montgomery]]
* "[[The Way You Look Tonight]]" - Written by [[Dorothy Fields]] & [[Jerome Kern]] - Performed by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra
* "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" - Written by [[Clarence Gaskill]] & [[Jimmy McHugh]] - Performed by Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra
* "Honeysuckle Rose" - Written by [[Andy Razaf]] & [[Fats Waller]] - Performed by Teddy Wilson
* "I Can't Get Started" - Written by [[Vernon Duke]] & [[Ira Gershwin]] - Performed by [[Lester Young]]
* "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" - Written by [[Moby]] & [[Sylvia Robinson]] - Performed by Moby
* "There'll Be Another Spring" - Written by [[Peggy Lee]] & Hubie Wheeler - Performed by [[Stockard Channing]]
* "There Will Never Be Another You" - Written by [[Harry Warren]] & [[Mack Gordon]] - Performed by [[Lester Young]]<ref>{{cite book |last= Harvey |first= Adam|year= 2007|title= The Soundtracks of Woody Allen: A Complete Guide to the Songs and Music in Every Film, 1969–2005|location= Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher= [[McFarland & Company]] |page=26 |isbn=9780786429684}}</ref>  
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

{{Woody Allen}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:2003 films]]
[[Category:2003 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:DreamWorks Pictures films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:Films about writers]]
[[Category:Films directed by Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Films produced by Letty Aronson]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Woody Allen]]