Product Details

• Actors: Nick Nolte, Albert Brooks, Whittni Wright, Julie Kavner, Joely Richardson
• Directors: James L. Brooks
• Writers: James L. Brooks
• Producers: James L. Brooks, Ian Deitchman, Penney Finkelman Cox, Polly Platt, Richard Marks
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 29, 1997
• Run Time: 115 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303155030
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,125 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Originally conceived and shot as a musical, James L. Brooks's (Broadcast News) comedy of life in Hollywood remains a perceptive and very funny film. A loose Nick Nolte stars as Matt Hobbs, a struggling actor who must find work to support his spoiled 6-year-old daughter (cutie pie Whittni Wright) when his estranged wife (Tracey Ullman) dumps her. Brooks creates wonderful characters in this insightful look at how the movie business has changed--from strong talent (represented by Hobbs) to image and test screenings. Hobbs's angel--professionally and privately--is embodied by a ditsy production assistant (Joely Richardson) to an egoistical producer (Albert Brooks, hilarious as always). Ironically, the movie's songs by Prince were excised when they did not test well. What's left lacks the heights the songs might have provided (especially in the finale), but with Brooks's talent for giving even minor characters juicy dialogue, I'll Do Anything is a light comedy worth seeking out. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker

Written and directed by James L. Brooks, this movie started life as a musical comedy and wound up as an extreme oddity. The music was dropped along the way, and you can't help feeling that some of the jokes never made it, either. Nick Nolte stars as Matt Hobbs, a not-in-demand actor who hangs around Los Angeles looking for work and tends to the unflagging demands of his young daughter (Whittni Wright), whose own road to stardom is less bumpy. This domestic saga takes up most of the plot, leaving other love stories-a wounded romance between Burke (Albert Brooks) and Nan (Julie Kavner), and Matt's courting of a movie executive named Cathy (Joely Richardson)-patchy and undeveloped. There are sunny moments here, alive with nimble shifts of feeling, but the director won't let the mood grow; he prefers to score angry points against the movie industry, as he did with television in "Broadcast News." Once again, however, he ends up falling for the cheap ethic that he wants to condemn; the climactic scene, in which Wright weeps on cue for a live audience, features more hugging than Christmas Day at the White House. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart-warming Hollywood, September 3, 2000

By 

Jason Vance (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Do Anything [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Originally shot as a musical with songs by Sinead O'Connor and Prince, this remarkable pic tested so badly in pre-release that they excised ALL the songs and dance numbers. You'd never miss em'. Nick Nolte is an earnest actor struggling to make it in L.A. when his ex-wife drops the bombshell that their five year-old daughter (who Nolte barely knows) will now be coming to live with him. You thought that kid from "The Sixth Sense" was good? Wait til' you see THIS little spitfire! Julie Kavner is amazing as the head of a test-screening/marketing company, who spews truth (and uncanny insights) like bullets from an AK-47. The real draw here though, is the rocky and tender relationship that develops between Nolte and his young daughter, against the backdrop of a gutless and brainless movie business.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nolte is a good actor, April 11, 2002

By 

John R. Bridell (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I'll Do Anything [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I'LL DO ANYTHING showed me that Nolte is a good actor. As soon as I realized he was doing a dandy job acting his role--luckless actor--the movie carried on quite well without my analysis. Nolte has been swirling in the Hollywood maelstrom. His life has been designed to believe that acting is the most important matter in the world. Then,as often they do, the vissicitudes of life dump his 5 year old, hard-to-handle, daughter into the scenery. She is a precocious stick of dynamite. The story takes a few swipes at the cheapside of Hollywood. Otherwise, it is no expose. It is full of fun and healthy laughter.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly wonderful, March 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: I'll Do Anything [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is full of intelligent spoken truths, an incredibly witty movie. Julie Kavner has some of the best lines, and some will make you laugh out loud, especially when directed at Brooks' egomaniacal character.If you have ever known ineffective parents, people in show-biz, writers, actors, stage-moms, or just the kind of poseurs that litter that L.A. scene, you will connect with this movie.