Woody Allen's work ethic--nearly a movie a year since the '80s--is astounding and admirable. But it's also catching up with him and beginning to sully the memory of truly brilliant works like Annie Hall and Hanna and Her Sisters. Anything Else is another New York story filled with therapists, difficult women, sexual dysfunction and neuroses.
It's also lazy, disorganized and rehashed from all his other films. Biggs portrays a thinly veiled young Allen who is questioning the meaning of life and his rocky relationship with wannabe actress-selfish seductress Christina Ricci. The Woodman plays the paranoid mentor to Biggs, whose chaotic conversations in Central Park hold the few bits of standout slapstick and sarcasm. However, the stagy film lollygags for so long, you'll be left feeling indifferent about whether Biggs turns his life around or blows his brains out. Unless you're a devout Woody worshipper, go see, um, anything else first.