Absolutely Anything (2015)

A group of eccentric aliens confers a human being with the power to do absolutely anything, as an experiment.

Director:

Terry Jones

Writers:

Terry Jones (screenplay), Gavin Scott (screenplay)

Stars:

Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Sanjeev Bhaskar

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Simon Pegg	...	Neil
Kate Beckinsale	...	Catherine
Sanjeev Bhaskar	...	Ray
Rob Riggle	...	Grant
Robert Bathurst	...	James Cleverill
Eddie Izzard	...	Headmaster
Joanna Lumley	...	Fenella
Marianne Oldham	...	Rosie
Emma Pierson	...	Miss Pringle
Meera Syal	...	Fiona
Mojo	...	Dennis the Dog
Robin Williams	...	Dennis the Dog (voice)
John Cleese	...	Chief Alien (voice)
Terry Gilliam	...	Nasty Alien (voice)
Eric Idle	...	Salubrious Gat (voice)

Storyline

Some aliens, who travel from planet to planet to see what kind of species inhabit them, come to Earth. And if humans are, according to their standards, decent, they are welcomed to be their friend. And if not, the planet is destroyed. To find out, they choose one inhabitant and give that person the power to do whatever he or she wants. And they choose Neil Clarke (Simon Pegg), a teacher who teaches the special kids. He is constantly being berated by the headmaster and is attracted to his neighbor, Catherine (Kate Beckinsale), but doesn't have the guts to approach her. But now he can do anything he wants, but has to be careful.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | teacher | whiskey bottle | whiskey | big ears | 

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Taglines:

With great power comes total irresponsibility.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language including sexual references, and brief nudity.

Did You Know?

Trivia

Simon Pegg and Eddie Izzard have both voiced Reepicheep in The Chronicles of Narnia movies. Izzard voiced him in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), and Pegg voiced him in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).

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Goofs

When Neil spills the whiskey into the sink, the contents of the sink look different between the close-up and the long shots.

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Quotes

[on hearing the bell, Dennis gets excited]
Neil Clarke: Dennis, listen! Listen, listen, listen! Be quiet! That is an order!
Dennis: Right! Right! I like obeying orders, especially your orders!
Neil Clarke: Good. Then shut the fuck up!... Good boy.
Dennis: Okay... okay... shut the fuck up...

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Crazy Credits

"DISCLAIMER: and yes we do know that the NASA footage of the Pioneer Rocket taking off is actually the Apollo Rockets, thank you"

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Alternate Versions

The British theatrical version reduced the uses of strong language in order to obtain a '12A' rating by the BBFC, and was also released on DVD. The Blu-ray release is uncut and has a '15' rating.

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Connections

References Some Like It Hot (1959)

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Soundtracks

Absolutely Anything
Written and performed by Roger Taylor
Recorded and mixed by Joshua Macrae (as Joshua J Macrae)
Licensed courtesy of Nightjar Productions Limited
Published by EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING

User Reviews

Little story about almighty power, when phrased correctly

The absolute power of wish fulfillment has been connected to many beings, genie and god among others, but now even aliens can make one's wish come true. Absolutely Anything is a simple film blessed with nifty premise and charming charismatic lead in Simon Pegg. It's a light casual watch that surprisingly heartwarming and incredibly witty beyond the occasional quirky display, even though the premise doesn't have much depth.

Neil (Simon Pegg) is an ordinary teacher who has been given ultimate power by a group of aliens for the purpose of judging the entire earth. The plot and cast are rather familiar, including the love interest by Kate Beckinsale along with the usual best friend and silly talking dog. It's pretty hard to fail on delivering a talking dog, especially voiced by Robin Williams.

First and foremost, the humor is fun and fairly amusing. The script offers some ridiculous situations, often presenting these scenes for Simon Pegg to shine, and that he does. His character is utterly identifiable, wishing assortments of petty stuffs and ending up with stupid mistakes by simple poor choice of words. Some of these might feel overdone and the movie just goes for the boundary of safe route.

Pegg also seems like able to crate chemistry with the cast, and everyone is quite likable, aside from a few over-the-top moments for a couple of them. The movie doesn't venture into deep thought about absolute power or the logic of bending reality, it merely a mild enjoyment with nice characters, most of whom work in platonic relationship. One extra credit for the presentation is how the visual looks sophisticated, it uses the scenery of England and the special effects fairly well.

Absolutely Anything is a much humbler film than the title suggests, it provides ample of light entertainment with a commendable performance by Simon Pegg even if the premise feels outdated towards the end. Plus, having Robin Williams again, even in doggy form is a nice treat.

Details

Official Sites:

Absolutely Anything Official Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

12 May 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Absolutely Anything

Box Office

Gross USA:

$20,169

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,303,792

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bill and Ben Productions, GFM films, Premiere Picture

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Color:

Color (ACES)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1