Woody’s doing his thing

Anything Else

Starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci and Woody Allen…

Anything Else

Starring Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci and Woody Allen

Directed by Woody Allen

At the beginning of “Anything Else,” it seems Woody Allen may have broken the cycle and given us something new. The director has been averaging a film a year for decades now – a remarkably fast pace in Hollywood – and the last handful of films, though mostly pleasant watches with a few good laughs each, haven’t been anywhere near the caliber of his best works: classics like “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan.”

The first hint that “Anything Else” could be an aberration in the director’s career is its cinematography. The film is beautifully shot in scope by Darius Khondji. If memory serves, Allen has used wide-screen photography only once before in all his years of directing – in the aforementioned “Manhattan” – and his films haven’t looked this alluring in years.

The second surprise is that Allen isn’t the one romancing the hot young actress in the film. He’s stepped aside, opting for a secondary role, to focus on the more age-appropriate, if less interesting, Jason Biggs, whom the director inexplicably trusts to narrate directly to the camera.

Biggs is Jerry Falk, a mild-mannered comedy writer with a girlfriend, Amanda (Christina Ricci), who is, to put it mildly, a handful. His friend and mentor, David Dobel (Allen), is either brilliant or psychotic. Those are just the primary crazy people in his life. There’s also his mother-in-law (Stockard Channing) who’s moved into his apartment and his inept but good-hearted agent (Danny Devito) who Jerry can’t bring himself to fire.

Despite the early promise of the film, Allen still lacks his edge.

The script revolves around Jerry and crew, waiting for one-liners and never really taking shape. Like many of the director’s recent efforts, the film feels as if it was conceived and produced way too damned comfortably to be inspired. It is underwritten – a few actors, including Devito and Jimmy Fallon, are largely stranded – but, at the same time, overly long. But don’t get me wrong; it’s not that bad a time. Like the rest of Woody Allen’s recent work, it’s decent.

Is there anything exceptional? Besides the look of the film, there’s Ricci, who’s so good at acting neurotic, it’s scary. Her irrationality is absurd, but rings true.

So maybe Allen doesn’t have another classic in him; maybe I should just be happy with the dozen or so laughs he provides every year and shut up. Nah, I’ll still whine for something novel, rather than just passable. One more great film would be better than another decade of decent ones.