Rent Anything Else (2003)

Woody's critical nadir. - Anything Else review by Steve

 This fascinating and garrulous comedy took an energetic critical beating, and doesn't start well, with Woody telling a story he'd already related in Crimes and Misdemeanours. Jason Biggs plays a 21 year old surrogate Woody, a writer of stand up material troubled by a complicated (and celibate) relationship with a sexy, high maintenance, volatile actor expertly portrayed by Christina Ricci.

The plot is further tangled when her mother moves in (Stockard Channing), and proves to be just as unstable and self absorbed as her daughter. Biggs' mentor is Allen himself, a relentless pessimist with sociopathic tendencies, who is preparing for society's end of days, while also attempting to break into comedy...

 Biggs directly addresses the camera giving the impression of one of Woody's late seventies works. Which is still fun. It doesn't date the film because the devise is still so widely copied all these years on. The conversations between the two wannabe comedians at the opposite ends of life are funny and touching. Ricci has a potent erotic presence which makes Biggs' obsession with this human incendiary believable and interesting. Apart from a couple of repetitions, Woody's voice has actually changed and his view of the world as well.

And there are some really howling comedy moments, such as when Biggs tries to break with his agent (Danny DeVito). Maybe it's the cynicism of the film that soured the public and critics alike, but the script is so dense with fantastic lines that perhaps its time will come.