Absolutely Anything (2015)

Sick Product of a Sick System

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Maybe sometimes you do need to throw subtlety out of the window and just make an honest and unpretentiously dumb movie. You, creators of Absolutely Anything, make an excellent point with your movie there. As I watched it, I often found myself thinking "This is so silly," but then wondering "is that a problem?" As far as stories for romantic comedies go, this one must have been fished out of the very bottom of the barrel. It exists only as a base for the movie's situational comedy. Half the humour comes from jokes centred around the magic wishes of Simon Pegg's character getting taken too literally. How original... The rest of the humour comes from the level of ridiculousness of the effects of each wish. The humour is therefore not high brow, but the movie is nonetheless funny, with a lot of good timing. Absolutely Anything feels less like a movie and more like a comedy sketch that has been stretched to movie length and given a budget. That budget is not giant, judging from the level of CGI effects, but big enough to get top billing actors. Simon Pegg does his Simon Pegg shtick with relative ease. Kate Beckinsale is ok, though she doesn't do much beyond providing a pretty female co-lead, who somehow looks 28 at the age of 44...must have been one of the wishes. Both leads are a bit bland. The most interesting additions to the film are Rob Riggle and Sanjeev Bhaskar. They are not funny, but their performances add colour to the movie. Robin Williams plays only a minor role, but considering that this was his last movie, there is extra value there. He isn't given anything particularly funny to say though and does not appear to have been given room to do improvisation. This movie is harmless. It is a little bland and forgettable, but it is stupid fun.

Simon Pegg plays the same character in all of his films; it was funny in Shaun of the Dead but it grew tired quickly and bizarrely he still does it. Needless to say Simon Pegg's "everyman" character is every bit as annoying as it was the last dozen or so times he played it. I found myself transfixed more on his hair transplant than his lines.The talking dog played by Robin Williams could have been done so much better. The lines the dog was given were like a cross between Dr Dolittle and What Women Want: "what if a dog could talk?! Oh I bet it would say how much it likes biscuits and wants to hump your leg!" Predictable bilge.The "chemistry" between Kate Beckinsale and Simon Pegg was strained and unbelievable. There is no way that she would like or even consider Pegg's charisma-less neighbour. We also never find out why Rob Riggle's character liked her so much or the details of how they met. Speaking of Rob Riggle, I expected more from him really.Eddie Izzard was completely bland in this. He can't act, he's not funny and he should stick to walking around in lipstick and his pink beret preaching the virtues of a "fair and equal society" while enjoying his millions like the rest of his celebrity peers.The aliens were completely unnecessary and the "Monty Python" "team" playing them were humourless too. "Monty Python" was and never will contain an ounce of humour: just tired jokes and idiotic quirkiness.The only saving grace of the film is the exploration of questions like what would happen if everyone had enough food that they wanted and a home they wanted. However, despite knowing the film was a "comedy", I found myself nitpicking for plot holes. I lost count of the number of times Pegg's dull character could've wished to improve things. On one occasion, his friend begged him to stop some woman literally worshipping him, which he could've done in a second but of course he was too busy so we were treated to more of this stretched out, unimaginative "joke".The ending was also nonsensical. Why would the aliens give anyone enough power to destroy them? Very disappointing.

It's not too big on the story, but it a great movie that doesn't take itself too serious. There was many moments that made me laugh out loud, something that's usually pretty hard to do, but I'm more on the British humour side than the American side.It's similar to Bruce Almighty in many ways, but I thought this one was way better. Jim Carey can be funny, but only in small doses. This movie keeps it lightly.

Simon Pegg, Robin Williams, John Cleese and the Monty Python gang are just some of the comedic talent in this movie. Now admittedly yes it is essentially a British remake of "Bruce Almighty" (which I absolutely love) and while it's not hilarious it is certainly very funny. So the plot in it's simplest form is Pegg's character is given the ability to do absolutely anything he wants by aliens looking to accept Earth into their alliance or destroy it and what follows are some rather funny outcomes. Now I am a fan of Simon Pegg partly because I was born in the same city as the actor and I genuinely find him very funny ("Shaun of the Dead" and "Paul" are two of my favourite comedy movies) and there's no question I adored Robin Williams so those two names drew me to want to see this movie and I was laughing at practically every joke in the movie. Now in truth the story could've been better but for what it's worth it isn't terrible. My only gripe with it is it should've been a "15" certificate due to the number of times the f-word is actually used in it and the brief nudity in one sequence (to put into perspective it was rated a 12A here in the UK which allows mild swearing, maybe one use of the f-word and implied nudity not in your face "those are definitely breasts" nudity) which certainly surprised the adults who had brought their young kids to see a movie with Robin Williams as a talking dog let me tell you. The movie is good, it is funny, is it the greatest comedy ever made? I'd have to say no, but it's a good movie for a chuckle and especially if you're a fan of any of the actors in the movie...just don't let your children watch it if you don't like them hearing the f-word or seeing naked breasts in a movie rated "12A" (or "PG-13" or the equivalent certificate if you're watching in another country).