MovieChat Forums > Anything Else (2003) Discussion > not awful; maybe casting?

not awful; maybe casting?

posted 10 years ago by Jawsphobia
3 replies | jump to latest

Both Ricci and Biggs appear to be doing a read-through. Ricci has been deadpan funny in Addams Family Values, but these characters felt very remote. I didn't care whether they stayed together or not. Ricci does have a couple of lines that work as throw-aways, and she is good for that kind of thing. But she is perhaps too warm and human an might have been better being less soft. There was never a chance to really like her, nor should there be. It feels like the performance was a counter-point for what she should have been. She is a MEMORY of the girl, so she could have been an icon and only as Biggs remembers her.

The movie is not bad. Its reputation is much worse. Oddly, the film is only interesting with Woody or DeVito. Stockard Channing is good, but an un-tapped resource of whimsy here.

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[–] HenryCW 10 years ago

Why is it that whenever I see Jason Biggs in any film, I think of the pie?

I don't think Biggs and Ricci were bad - they were good enough playing what were required of those particular characters. The main problem, in my opinion, was instead with the script. I have met narcissistic and manipulative women, but the Ricci character was so unlikeable that I have difficulty in believing any man could stand her for long, not to mention the presence of her obnoxious mother.

[–] Jawsphobia 10 years ago

On the theme of the pie you mentioned, I think that is the thing about Biggs -- He needs to be reacting to or dealing with a set-piece of awkwardness. That way his straight-laced, white bread persona. He may be a grounded presence, especially out of place when he does the Woody thing of breaking the forth wall to directly address the camera. That's a thing a stand-up with only one foot in reality and the other in theatricality can pull off. It doesn't feel so confessional with Biggs. Imagine Seth Rogan in the Jason Biggs part here. Ricci does fine with one-liners but she doesn't physically support what an ice queen should look like. The obnoxious mother Stockard Channing is pretty good, but it's all about turning the screws and how much it will take for Biggs to snap. Maybe more should have been poured on, as you say, by the script or maybe the delivery just wasn't anxiety versus oblivious calm. Biggs feels too accommodating.

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[–] Cojay8 9 years ago

I totally agree, Allen is great and Stockard always is and this is visually one of Allen's most beautiful films but I could get on with Biggs or Ricci. Bac casting stopped this from being a masterpiece