Rent Anything Else (2003)

Critical Nadir. - Anything Else review by Steve

 This fascinating, garrulous comedy took an energetic critical beating and doesn't start well, with Woody Allen telling an anecdote he'd already shared a decade earlier. 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 actor expertly portrayed by Christina Ricci.

The plot is further tangled when her mother (Stockard Channing) moves in, and proves to be just as unstable and self absorbed. Biggs' mentor is Woody 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, like Woody did in Annie Hall. Which is still fun. It doesn't date the film because the devise is still so widely copied. The conversations between the two wannabe comedians at the opposite ends of life are funny and interesting. Ricci has a potent erotic presence which makes Biggs' obsession with this human incendiary believable.

It's essentially a conversation between Woody and his much younger self. Some may find that self indulgent, but there are many really howling comedy moments, such as when Biggs tries to break with his agent (Danny DeVito). Maybe the cynicism dismayed its critics , but this is so dense with fantastic lines that perhaps its time will come.