By the time it reached the mid-1990s, James L. Brooks was in a good place in Hollywood – he had directed some of the most notable films of the 1980s in the form of Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, had radical successes with shows such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons (his main area of expertise for the previous few decades being on television), and was generally viewed as the rare kind of filmmaker adored by critics, audiences and the industry as a whole, as well as producing works that were able to turn a profit without much effort. Yet, there is a film that is often viewed as perhaps his most notable failure, even though that is perhaps too harsh a term. No one could have anticipated I’ll Do Anything becoming what it did – in the literal sense that Brooks and his team set out to make a musical, in the hopes of paying homage to the classic era of MGM musicals that inspired him as a young artist. Of course, anyone who knows the history of this film will be aware of the fact that, at the 11th hour, it was decided to rework the entire project (which had essentially completed filming), removing all traces of its musical origins, and instead restructuring it into a more traditional comedy, something much more aligned with Brooks’ sensibilities. However, even as it stands, I’ll Do Anything is a surprisingly lovely film – a solid and reliable comedy that centres on the trials and tribulations of an out-of-work actor as he balances trying to kickstart his career with raising his six-year-old daughter, who is forced back into his life when his ex-wife is sent to prison, leaving the girl under his clearly insufficient care. Very much the reliable, straightforward comedy with layers of melodrama that we would expect from Brooks, I’ll Do Anything is a truly lovely film, and despite rarely being mentioned in relation to his more notable work, it is undeniably very special, specifically for how it looks at different sides of the industry and how it relates to everyday life.

Showbusiness satires have essentially become a dime-a-dozen, since it seems like any self-aware filmmaker knows that Hollywood is not as glamorous and exciting as it appears, and the only way to make a good film about the industry is through well-crafted parody. Brooks has never been someone known for particularly strong, scathing satirical jabs, with the majority of his work being more straightforward, intentionally structured stories that make their intentions clear at the start and make sure to maintain some degree of consistency over the course of the story. However, he does try to do something different with I’ll Do Anything, which is likely not autobiographical in any sense (unless Brooks found some common ground with the pernickety producer character, which is entirely possible, but mostly quite unlikely considering how the film is structured), but does show that the director is willing to set aside his reputation as perhaps one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood to make a mercilessly funny parody of the self-serious, notoriously fickle world of filmmaking, an industry defined by insecurity, deception and a lot of luck. Centering on a protagonist who is trying desperately to launch his acting career, the film bounces between his professional pursuits and his domestic affairs, which the film allow to overlap in the creation of this eccentric, off-the-wall film that is essentially nothing more than a comedy of errors centering on the day-to-day efforts of a struggling actor trying his best to make a success of both his career in entertainment and the responsibilities asserted onto his as a parent. I’ll Do Anything contains many of Brooks’ most frequent techniques, but it still becomes very clear that he was attempting something much more subversive, and while we can lament for seeing this film in the way it was intended, we can’t be too glum, considering the final product is still very strong in its own way.

I’ll Do Anything features a diverse cast of actors enlisted by Brooks to bring this story to life, with some being regular collaborators that had strong working relationships with the director, whereas others were newcomers that may have known Brooks through his status as a major producer, but had yet to collaborate with him until this moment. Either way, the cast is terrific, and they all turn in lovely, complex performances that are far more nuanced than we may expect them to be at a cursory glance. The film was made during the period when Nick Nolte was considered one of the most dashing and compelling leading men working in Hollywood, and it is certainly one of his more unique performances, since the gruff, almost cynical persona is set aside and replaced with a far more charismatic, almost goofy version of the characters he played in some of the more tender films throughout his career. He’s solid in this film, and while he is unfortunately given the least interesting part, as the more eccentric characteristics are given to the actors in the supporting cast, Nolte is still very good, especially in convincing us of the veracity of this character. He’s joined by the young Whittni Wright as his daughter, and while there are moments where it feels like she is relying too much on the usual tics we expect from young actors, she still manages to win us over. Albert Brooks, having done his best acting work in Broadcast News, plays the hilarious producer who is essentially the heart of the story. Had the film been more focused on the Hollywood aspect, there’s no doubt that this character would have been more prominent. Joely Richardson and Julie Kavner elevate seemingly one-dimensional characters, making them memorable additions to a plot that only becomes richer and more complex with their strong work. I’ll Do Anything mostly avoids clichés as far as it can, and the strong work by the cast only allows it to become a more mature and developed account of how the industry is guided by nothing more than a constant stream of interactions between people at different levels of power.

As understandable as it may have been in terms of being a business decision (as well as applying the general rule that, unless a director is known for their ambition, its sometimes better to adhere to a more reliable style of storytelling), it is slightly disappointing that I’ll Do Anything wasn’t able to be released as it was originally intended, and claims of an elusive bootleg version that reinstates the musical numbers has become almost folkloric, especially since it is clear we may never actually this film in its original intended form. Not only could we benefit from more original musicals, but there are clear tonal cues that were placed in this film that would justify a more abstract approach. Due to having to be reworked as a straightforward comedy, these cues are useless and just exist to make us wonder what could have come out of a more ideal version of this film. Several elements of the film are profoundly strange in a way that makes us wonder what the original production may have looked like, particularly since Brooks was aiming to challenge many of the more unconventional themes that he thought could be worthwhile in such a film. The film moves at a rapid-fire pace, but this doesn’t preclude Brooks from inserting his patented emotional inventory, where absolutely every character undergoes some kind of minor existential crisis, realising their selfishness, and doing their best to remedy their shortcomings before losing everything that they value. Obviously, this is limited in the film, which is actually one of Brooks’ more cynical narratives, which prevents it from being too heavy-handed or overwrought, instead choosing to focus on the sharper satirical barbs that circulate throughout the film. Occasionally, it may falter, but there is something still very charming about a film that can be this confident, despite having been the subject of a huge change that shifted almost its entire structure and narrative purpose.

It may not always be as strong as it perhaps could have been, but I’ll Do Anything is still a solid film with a strong narrative and many good ideas that form the foundation of the story. Several tremendous ideas guide this narrative – the humour is sharp and compelling, and even at its most predictable, there is something so endearing about how this film develops on its underlying ideas. The performances are remarkable, being simple enough to be realistic, but having a genuine sense of complexity that comes about through a strong relationship between the actors and their director, who proves to be a much more formidable voice when it comes to developing complex roles than many may give him credit for. For some reason, I’ll Do Anything is the film usually forgotten when discussing Brooks’ work as a director – its as good as any of his other films, but seems to be a victim of the constant reminder that it underwent a last-second change of heart, having to be reworked into an entirely different film, the original version becoming something of an elusive holy grail of 1990s cinema (and the success of Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You only two years later proves that there was still room for original musicals at this time) – and while we all wish to see the original version, to view this as anything less than a remarkable achievement on its own, a warm and comforting comedy about Hollywood on one hand, and a loving father-daughter relationship on the other, seems unfair and short-sighted, and prevents us from truly appreciating a bold and complex film that is as entertaining as it is meaningful, a rare but poignant combination that the film encompasses with extraordinary skill and a lot of sincerity.