In the early 1990s, it seemed likeJames L. Brookswas unimpeachable. Following a prolific career as a television writer and executive, Brooks burst out the gate as a feature filmmaker withTerms of Endearment, a surprise smash-hit and Best Picture winner, andBroadcast News, a highly influential romantic dramedy now viewed as his masterpiece. If that wasn’t enough, Brooks just happened to co-develop a little show you’ve probably heard of calledThe Simpsons. Now paired with a recently-cemented star and Sexiest Man of the Year inNick Nolte, Brooks' Hollywood satire,I’ll Do Anything, looked to be another surefire success in 1994. Unfortunately, the writer-director missed the mark, and despite its charm and ambition, the film,originally conceived as a musical, is an admirable mess.
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Brooks and Nolte were two unconventional creative figures who attained mainstream acclaim. Brooks' films, ranging from tearjerkers to media satires, don’t scream “blockbuster,” but he was a consistently bankable director until he wasn’t, with thecritical and commercial fiascoHow Do You Know?, placing him in director’s jail. After a prosperous 1991 that saw him star oppositeBarbra StreisandinThe Prince of TidesandRobert De NiroinCape Fear,the versatile Nolte,despite his menacing gaze and gravelly voice, stood his own as a romantic heartthrob.
After examining the politics and precarious state of the media inBroadcast News, Brooks set his eyes on satirizing the development process of Hollywood movies, a conceit on everyone’s mind thanks to the new hitApple TV+ series,The Studio.I’ll Do Anythingfollows a struggling actor, Matt Hobbs (Nolte), whose life is upended when his ex-wife, Beth (Tracey Ullman), dumps their precocious young daughter, Jeannie (Whittni Wright), on his lap, which compromises his career ambitions. The main target of Brooks' ribbing of Hollywood is Burke Adler (Albert Brooks), a pompous and egotisticalJoel Silver-esque producer.
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On paper,I’ll Do Anythingis the perfect infusion of Brooks' artistic sensibilities. Matt’s character rehabilitation, learning how to become a proper father and a cooperative player in the Hollywood system, was a precursor toJack Nicholson’s reformation as amisanthrope inAs Good As It Gets. Continuing from the touching family drama and media satire of his two previous films,I’ll Do Anythingsaw Brooks trying to recapture the magic ofThe Simpsonson the big screen.The legendary Fox animated series is remembered for sending radical shockwaves to mainstream America, but the emphasis on family and friendship grounded the show so that everyone could still love the motley crew of oddballs in Springfield.
James L. Brooks Pokes Fun at Hollywood in ‘I’ll Do Anything’
The characters inI’ll Do Anythinglack the necessary likability and relatability, perhaps due to Brooks' own frustration with the filmmaking enterprise and his lost connection to everyday life.I’ll Do Anything, working in broadstrokes as a Hollywood satireand family dramedy, is too far into sitcom territory, which is especially true in the performances byAlbert BrooksandTracey Ullman. The talent of these hilarious people is wasted, leaning on the tropes of bombastic studio executives and a shrill and frustrated wife, respectively. While some critics were kinder to the film, many seem to agree that Jeannie was arguably the mostgrating and hyperbolically obnoxious childdepicted on screen in ages. Luckily, Nolte andSimpsonsalumJulie Kavner, who plays Adler’s assistant, are too innately charming for the film to be a complete misfire, and the former, in particular, wonderfully deploys his lighter, romantic side as a flawed man who you want to see succeed.
The film’s satirical talking points, while ham-fisted, feel pointed and lived-in, as Brooks has certainly sat in executive meetings where delusional studio heads invokeBernardo Bertolucciand haphazardly pitch ideas for a remake ofMr. Deeds Goes To Town(somethingAdam Sandlerwould later manifest). In the end,I’ll Do Anythingneeded to be either more pitch-black a laThe Playeror whimsical and virtuosic, likeSingin' in the Rain. The misshapen, Frankenstein-creation nature of the movie is undoubtedly a result of last-minute edits and re-shoots that removed all the musical numbers featuring songs written byPrince,Sinéad O’Connor, andCarole King. The film’s sharpest bit of satire came from itself as a story revolving around audience test scores that had to be drastically altered after poor test screenings.
As a film,I’ll Do Anythinghas faded away, but the musical cut remains an object of legend in the film community. Brought to light by the podcast,Blank Check with Griffin and David, negative prints of the original cut featuring the musical numbers exist, but they are extremely difficult to obtain. It’s been 30 years, Hollywood. Release the Brooks Cut already!
I’ll Do Anything
