Absolutely Anything appears in the back of my mind as an absolute fever-dream. A film that features wishes, talking dogs, aliens, semi-cultish behaviour, stalking, explosions, and Kate Beckinsale, there are lots of parts of this film that seem to make almost no sense. However, there is something inherently special about Absolutely Anything which mostly comes from its casting and writing.
As the last thing written and directed by Terry Jones, one of the Monty Python comedy team, the film tries to use many of the same comedy as its elder versions and arguably falls a bit flat due to its reliance on technological comedy gags rather than an excellent script. The inclusion of an absolute shedload of CGI may have been for the better or the worse, but either way, it’s still clear that it came from a good place with comedy at the core.
Absolutely Anything featured the vocal talents of many famous names in comedy: a whole bunch of the Monty Python actors voiced a group of gruesome and sadistic aliens who end up very much exploded, and Robin Williams posthumously presented himself as a wise and loving dog as his last acting role before his untimely death. While it all sounds very stupid, the film is very special for what it stood for in terms of its cast of comedic legends.
It was also very confidently carried by infamous funnyman Simon Pegg as the main role. Pegg played a man who was given mystical powers to make any of his wishes come true in order to determine the outcome for humankind. Many of his choices went awry, except the wish to give his beloved companion, Dennis, a voice. Absolutely Anything was an absolute discombobulation of things, but deep behind that, it reminded people to stay humble and to enjoy themselves and the company of those around them. It feels very silly to be nostalgic over a film that was rated so lowly and called disappointing, but sometimes things aren’t always as they seem.
You can watch the trailer for Absolutely Anything below:
