Anything Else (2003) *** 1/4

Written and directed by Woody Allen. Photography, Darius Khondji. Editing, Alisa Lepselter. Production design, Santo Loquasto. Producer, Letty Aronson. Woody Allen (David Dobel), Jason Biggs (Jerry Falk), Christina Ricci (Amanda), Stockard Channing (Paula), Danny DeVito (Harvey), Jimmy Fallon (Bob), William Hill (Psychiatrist). A DreamWorks release. 108 minutes. R.

Recently there was a comic use of guns in "Secondhand Lions." A few days later a gun is improbably yet tellingly and not so funnily introduced in "Anything Else." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I saw the latest Woody Allen comedy-with-a-darkish side on a Sunday afternoon as one of the seven people in the audience. It worries me. Is this because the film's release plays down the name of Allen? A result of America'short memory? While Woody is still seen as a movie-genius abroad, has he become, at home, a relic because of the "it was before my time" syndrome among the younger audiences that buy most of the tickets? He is 68.

There's a study to be made. Alfred Hitchcock was 76 when he made his last movie. John Huston was 81 when his penultimate work, the hit "Prizzi's Honor" was released. John Ford, was around 71 when he made his mid-60s hits. Fellini's was 70 when his last film came out. There is no doubt that unlike the (approximate) 1960s-1980s era the notion of "auteur" filmmakers is now weakening seriously.

"Anything Else" is a tale of love gone wrong. Wisely, Woody is not the male in the affair. That's 20-something Jason Biggs, whose claim to fame comes from the three "American Pie" movies. He plays Jerry Falk, a would-be writer of comedies -but there's no evidence of anything he's made. He is the only client of agent Harvey (Danny DeVito,) who overcharges him (but for what?) and who could not possibly survive without Jerry (but, again, where's the money? All this is quite murky.)

Jerry, inexplicably is no starving artist. If I heard correctly, he says he is divorced. But what we see is a nice live-in girlfriend. The crucial part is when he runs into buddy and that fellow's girl, Amanda (Christina Ricci). It is love at first sight and it's all packed with funny sequences and scenes.

Where's Woody? Well, he's there alright, as David Dobel, Jerry's new friend and mentor. The two men regularly meet in Central Park and talk and talk-- mostly Dobel. That name is of major importance. Dobel sounds like "Double." And as the start of "Dopelganger" i.e. the Alter Ego. So, in fact, Woody is both David and Jerry. That's a neat trick-and not an easy one to carry out.

Back to Amanda. She is (vaguely) an actress or a would-be thespian. And she gives a powerful performance. The movie's reviewers all seem to salivate about her sexiness. All I can say is "everybody to his/her taste." To make a long story less long, Jerry separates from his current "amour"; he and Amanda move in together, and so on. The problem comes when she calls a halt (or long moratorium) to sex between them, for reasons thatŠ well, you have to find out.

One major point. In addition to what we see, there are sudden (i.e. unprepared) flashbacks and flash-forwards in which Jerry addresses the audience, relates or explains matters. That's quite an avant-garde trick that Woody Allen the filmmaker regularly repeats. Add to this that Jerry is an over-eager mumbler-fumbler in his speech and his behavior. He hesitates, goes "hm," "hem," "humm," "oh" and so on. Director Woody gets away with all this. Also with developments I shall not specify. Suffice to say that Amanda's mother, a kook, shows up for a stay in the couple's crowded apartment; that Dobel convinces Jerry to buy a rifle; that Dobel has a fixation on anti-Semitism and Neo-Fascism; and more. Essentially everyone involved here is a nut. Crazy. Mad. Meshuga. Self-centered. This probably even goes for Jerry's silent shrink. That's quite a risk that Woody-the-writer-director takes, that is, not using at all any fully sane types as contrasts.

Some of the best touches are in talkative Dobel's very Allenian lines, his rich vocabulary that's like a Defense of the English Language, and the use of wonderful words such as "to tergiversate." He is a school teacher but not shown in a classroom. This brings me to my strong suggestion: Woody Allen would be terrific in an ironical movie about college or university people. (Hey, Woody, remember that I was the first to come up with this idea!)

The film's Manhattan is beautifully, lovingly designed by Allen's usual collaborator Santo Loquasto, and just as excellently shot by the Iranian-French Darius Khondji.

This work is certainly amusing, intelligent and original-but has an uncertain future for several reasons. Many reviewers have a knee-jerk tendency -at times a rancorous one-- to denigrate Woody; the movie does not fit popular categories such as blockbusters (that's where the money is) or items for the great unwashed, the under-30 public; and it has been poorly promoted/advertised.