Whatever Works (2009)

After a string of movies set in Europe, Woody Allen triumphantly returns to his beloved New York for Whatever Works. Since Allen releases a new film each year, it's hit-or-miss with him (rightfully so). This film got less-than-enthusiastic reviews and, as such, I wasn't expecting much from it...But the critics really misrepresented this film, as this is one of Woody's best comedies.

Larry David (of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame) plays Boris Yellnikoff, a caustic, retired physicist who walks with a limp due to a failed suicide attempt. Now, Boris teaches chess to "zombie-minded imbeciles." Evan Rachel Wood plays Melodie, a naïve runaway from Mississippi, who stumbles into Boris' life...Against all odds, the two marry and Melodie's parents (played wonderfully by Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr.) both, separately, find her.

I'm not familiar with Larry David's previous work, so I don't know how much of this performance carries over from his own persona; but David is playing the Woody Allen role here to perfection. David perfectly captures the neurotic, arrogant genius that is Boris and recites Allen's dialogue as if it comes straight from his own thoughts. Of course, this is a film filled with great performances as can be expected from a film by Woody Allen. Begley, Jr. is particularly surprising as Melodie's father...And while some may not be too impressed by Wood's performance as Melodie, she's very convincing and cute.

This is truthfully one of Allen's best comedies and an all-around great film. The dialogue here is typical, philosophical, sarcastic Allen...But it doesn't just elicit chuckles, but full-on, laugh-out-loud laughter. It's a very intelligent film that not ONLY ranks as one of Allen's best comedies, but one of his best films. I don't see how this film has not received the amount of praise it deserves, because I clearly saw something all the critic's didn't. While the past few years have shown a return to form for Allen, this film stands as a terrific achievement in the Allen catalogue. It's quite honestly one of the best films I've seen this year and it's not to be missed.

GRADE: A

Woody Allen has been a very lucky director in the history of Cinema. I can't think of any other director with the exception, maybe, of Spielberg that can still do "his" movies, even if they don't continuously make money. Indeed, with Allen you never know -he can equally have a hit or a miss, but he still gets financing for his ideas. His latest, "Whatever Works," I am happy to say, is a hit. Actually more than a hit: a treasure. One the best films I have seen in a long time. It is smart and wicked, with great dialogue and very funny --Woody Allen's funny, that is, if you know what I mean: just plain good acting and inspired writing.

Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) describes himself as a "profound, sensitive soul, with an enormous grasp of the human condition," who always has nightmares about Joseph Conrad's "the horror." He is a brilliant man, who doesn't hesitate to refer to himself as a genius he is a physicist, who specializes in Quantum mechanics. And he may be right. However, due to the nature of his character and personality, he is not easy to live with. He is divorced, and walks with a limb, because he tried to kill himself by jumping from a window. He earns a living by teaching kids how to play chess (insulting and degrading them), and getting together with his equally intellectual buddies, who patiently hear his rants about the decline of mankind. He claims that he spends his time "trying to express to cretins that, while a black man got into the White House, he still can't get a cab in New York." However, his structured life drastically changes when he meets Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), a runaway that asked for his help at his doorstep, because she had nowhere to go. He reluctantly accepts, and invites her to stay for a couple of days. Of course, love blossoms, and despite their age and intellectual difference he is much older and smarter than her -, they eventually get married. They actually live happily ever after that is, until Marietta (Patricia Clarkson), Melodie's mother, suddenly comes into the picture.

"Whatever Works" functions at every level. It is original and hilarious, with Woody Allen providing evidence that he is still the best smart comedy writer that there is. It would not be a mistake to say that it probably captures Woody's inner feelings and current state of mind, which are summed up in one of the lines of the film: "In the end, the romantic aspirations of your youth are reduced to whatever works." In addition, it is also a subliminal critique to the right-wing mentality that permeates part of our culture. A comedy masterpiece. (USA / France, 2009, color, 92 mins).

Reviewed on October 27, 2009 by Eric Gonzales from

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WHATEVER WORKS is a drama taking place in a middle-class residential neighborhood in New York City, complete with Jewish delicatessens and art galleries. This type of neighborhood is familiar to me, as I have toured the SoHo district in lower Manhattan many times. Because the story took place in lower Manhattan, the movie was continually fascinating to me. The film takes place in the present day, that is, circa 2009.

In brief, a runaway girl materializes on the doorstep of a retired physics professor. The professor is a confirmed curmudgeon and, to some extent, a misanthrope. His manner of speech takes the form of amusing 1-liners, regarding the fruitlessness of human society. The professor takes the girl in, and she lives with him, and they have a sort of father/daughter relationship. Over the course of weeks, the girl adopts the same speech patterns as the professor, and she spews out the same amusing 1-liners about the futility of human society. The girl's father and mother, both devoted Christians, split up prior to the girl's running away from home. The problem was that the father was having an affair with another woman.

The girl is from the American South, and prefers Louisiana-style cooking, and has a southern accent. About half-way into the movie, the girl's mother materializes at the front door of the professor's house. Unexpectedly, the mother quickly adopts to the lifestyle of New York City, and her collection of casual family snapshots is "discovered" by an art critic, and the mother has an art exhibition in a gallery (not an exhibition in a mere coffeeshop). (The fact that the mother, a mere picture-taker, has an exhibit at an art gallery, is a slap in the face to any person who has really had a 1-person show in a recognized art gallery.) Also, the mother acquires two boyfriends. One of the boyfriends is a middle-aged man who is a philosophy professor, and the 3 of them sleep together. Thus, the storyline is utterly bizarre. It is not art. It is not entertainment. It is not creative. It is not interesting. It is just random garbage.

Towards the end of the movie, the girl's father materializes at the front door of the professor's house. He also, came is search of the runaway daughter. As the man's character develops, during the remaining thirty or so minutes of the film, he discovers that he is really gay, and he quickly develops a gay relationship with a man he finds in a tavern. But again, this makes the storyline too disjointed. The storyline goes "off-topic" too often in this movie.

On the plus side, the actress playing the girl is abundantly easy on the eye. But on the minus side, WHATEVER WORKS is fraught with improbabilities. First of all, it is not often that an astonishingly beautiful girl shows up on a man's doorsteps, as a runaway. Second, it is not often that a 20-year old girl marries a 70-year old man who is a retired professor (this is what happens in WHATEVER WORKS). Third, it is not often that a southern housewife is promoted as a photographer, on the basis of her "portfolio" of casual family snapshots, and has a photography exhibit at a lower Manhattan art gallery. Fourth, it is not often that a physics professor tries twice to commit suicide (this is what happens in WHATEVER WORKS). To summarize, this movie consists of a re-cycling of things that Woody Allen likes and finds dear (younger girlfriends, New York City art galleries, talking about excessively personal hang-ups in ordinary conversations). We have seen the same themes, again and again, since the 1970s in Woody Allen movies. The contrived marriage of the 70-year old man with the 20-year old girl, obviously mirrors Woody Allen's own marriage to his step-daughter (Soon-Yi) who is thirty years younger than himself.

WHATEVER WORKS could be the very best of all of the Woody Allen films that utilize the above collection of themes. But on the other hand, what prevents this movie from having much more value than a typical made-for-TV movie, is that fact that it consists of a studied melange of incoherent and incompatible things, squeezed and forced together, into a single storyline.

(Also, this movie is NOT a comedy. There is nothing here to make you laugh. The movie is merely amusing.)

Perhaps the only believable part of WHATEVER WORKS, is the professor's schmoozing with his friends, at a sidewalk coffeeshop. In fact, if the entire movie had taken place on the sidewalk table, at the coffeeshop, documented the conversations of three mature men, I might have given the film FIVE STARS. To emphasize this point, if this movie was more like, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE, then that would have been fine with me.

The star of this movie is Mr. Larry David. Mr. David is one of the most successful people in the history of Hollywood, having been one of the founders of the SEINFELD show, and having written 62 episodes of SEINFELD. But in my opinion, even if the cast consists of seven Academy Award winners, it cannot convert such a bizarre, improbable, contrived script into a watchable film. Basically that is my point -the movie WHATEVER WORKS borders on being unwatchable.

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Larry David does Mr. Cranky better than anyone and still remain funny. Pessimism as comedy is an art form when done right.

A totally different movie. Nice easy pace. Soundtrack is really good as Woody's movies usually have. Only a few laugh out loud moments for me but I had a smile the whole movie. Larry's line as they enter the photo gallery was hilarious. Just plain interesting movie. Really liked this one. Something NEW is almost always worth an extra star. E R Wood was really charming and with a very good supporting cast.

I hope Jessica Hecht gets more movies roles, very good presence but just a small part here. IMBD lists more roles coming up for her. Hope they're bigger. Woody is really good but some of his movies miss for me. Not this one. Worth seeing.

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An incredibly well thought out film that confirmed a long held conviction of mine about what is really important about life. What is really important about life? Nothing specificaly. Whatever works is important for each of us. No prejudices, no preconceptions, no hook-ups. Of course, a corollary of this theory is that what is important for someone is not important for another.

Of course we all have out different tastes but I really don't understand those who say this movies is not funny. It is for me. Extremely. Witty, quick, and well maybe I am thick but I did not find it predictable at all.

I do agree with those who argued Woody might as well have played the protagonist's role. Why did he not? David acts so much like Woody. He actually even sort of looks like him. When I first saw the movie I assumed Allen was acting and took me several minutes to realize it was not him on the set!

Strongly recommended.

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