I'LL DO ANYTHING is UNIQUE in movie history, but I'll save the
reason for the end of the review. The story is about a washed up actor
(Nick Nolte) and his daughter, (newcomer Whittni Wright), played as the
classic child from hell type, who turns into a successful child acting
star. Albert Brooks plays the producer. Nolte is usually good and he
is here, but nothing special. In every movie, I have ever seen Albert
Brooks in, especially BROADCAST NEWS, he has been nothing less than
terrific. In this movie he is okay, but nothing more. To be honest,
his part was not well written - too timid or something - so I think he
did good as he could. The best part is the child's. She is really
cute, and I hope to see her again.
The worst part was the script by James L. Brooks. It just does
not make you care enough about the characters yet all are potentially
quite interesting. There were a few good one liners, especially in the
small part of the mom played by Tracy Ullman. The directing was also
by James L. Brooks who did BROADCAST NEWS and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
Here he is too timid with his cast as if he is afraid to open up and
take a few risks.
What is unique about this movie? It was originally a musical but
at the screenings, people hated the songs, but liked the movie. They
reedited it to take out all of the songs, and released it anyway. I
did find myself unsuccessfully looking for where the musical numbers
must have been.
I'LL DO ANYTHING runs too long at 1:56. With the missing songs
this movie would have gone on forever. It is rated PG-13, but is
pretty harmless show. Some movies are great in places and awful in
others. I'LL DO ANYTHING on the other hand is extremely uniform albeit
highly forgettable. I rated at a constant ** 1/2 and give it a thumbs
up if you are looking for a pleasant movie that never taxes your brain.
Copyright © 1995 Steve Rhodes
out of 4
