Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Overlooked Movies: Absolutely Anything (2015)


I never even heard of this Simon Pegg movie, missed it completely when it came out, so when I ran across it on Netflix I figured I ought to watch it. I’ve liked just about everything else I’ve seen with Pegg in it. His movies are usually an oddball mix of comedy and science fiction, and ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING certainly fits into that category.

In this one, Pegg plays a school teacher and would-be novelist who’s been pining away for his downstairs neighbor, played by Kate Beckinsale. He has problems with his headmaster, his unruly class, and his obnoxious landlady. Pretty typical nebbishy comedy so far.

Then a group of supremely powerful alien beings (computer generated, but voiced by some of the Monty Python guys) grant Pegg’s character the power to do anything with a wave of the hand, as a way of testing humanity to determine whether they wipe out Earth or leave it alone.

There’s not much in this movie that’s going to come as a surprise, from the romantic entanglements to the hijinks that ensue when Pegg grants his dog the power to talk. (The dog is voiced by an unusually low-key Robin Williams in his last role, which gives this movie kind of a bittersweet edge.) But ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING is still funny and good-hearted and worth watching, I thought.

1 comment:

Peter Brandvold said...

Thanks for recommending this one, James. I watched it last night. Thought it was hilarious!