Whatever Works (2009)

Greetings again from the darkness. Such an odd experience ... watching an old Woody Allen for the first time. Well that's the best way I can describe this. The script was from the 70's and certainly, Mr. Allen made a few changes to make it fit the 21st century, but still we can't help but think it's 1977 all over again ... especially since Woody has been away from NYC for awhile.

Larry David is cast in the "Woody Allen" role and does his best to bring his Curb Your Enthusiasm delivery. The only problem, his character here, Boris Yellnikoff, is just a very bitter, abusive, negative force ... so even some of the best comedic moments are a bit tainted by the mean spiritedness.

Evan Rachel Wood has been a star in the making since "Thirteen" and really brings a new dimension not just to her career, but also the film. Her runaway southern belle is a flat out hoot. When her parents (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr.) arrive, we gain some insight into Allen's thought process ... he thinks NYC is the be all and end all ... and can even enlighten those southern "crackers".

Mr. Allen has always been obsessed with three topics ... dying, sex and intellect, and all three are on prominent display here. He really has an innate ability to exaggerate life subtleties and slap us upside the head in his films. I believe his message is that the big picture of life is overwhelming and disheartening, but as individuals, we can each find happiness.

Fmovies: First, just so you know, I'm writing this review from France... but I'm from the U.S. That, so you don't disregard this as yet another Franco-Allen fan (they've exchanged their Jerry Lewis passion for Woody over here, and sanction everything he does).

Also, disclaimer: I really like and respect Woody Allen's work and I'm also an ex New Yorker. With a Jewish wife, no less. So no, okay, I'm not unbiased.

All that said... I fully agree with "boyden" in that this movie is far better than the reviews it gets from critics. On rottentomatoes.com, for instance, this garnered a 45% rating. That's on par with non-hits like "Gigli" etc.

Yet, the dialogue was great... Larry David was as close to a Woody Allen substitute as anyone has come in a long time (Allen always casts people he can direct to sound like him, it seems)... and it made me crave that old New York, before the money of the recent pre-bust boom turned it into a homogenized has-been of a city.

Evan Rachel Wood, by the way, was overwhelmingly charming. And I thought all the other acting was excellent too, in the way people act in Woody Allen movies... which is ALWAYS different from what it is in other films (you occasionally get those moments where the lines are crafted or improvised rather than somewhere in the middle).

At any rate, it's amazing the size of the disconnect between fan response and the response of the critics... who, in my opinion, should go watch Annie Hall and Sleeper and the like so they can remember again.

Well, my first review for the IMDb. I picked one that I thought I was not going to like, but I like Woody Allen, so I gave it a shot.

I thought I would not like Whatever Works, because I read and heard some of the critics' negative reviews.

So, the first ten to fifteen minutes or so into the movie, I'm thinking that Larry David is better at improvising, as on his own show, than doing someone else's lines, albeit Woody Allen's.

But then, as usually is the case with Mr. Allen;s movies, I got hooked half way through. I got hooked because it was very well done. The story, the direction, the acting - yes, Larry David was perfect for this. It was a risky casting move on Mr. Allen's part, but it worked beautifully.

I like it also because Mr. Allen interjects philosophy in all of his movies. He courageously exposes himself, allows us to hear his thoughts and does these things by seducing us with entertainment.

Excellent work.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the sort of "tying up" philosophy about how we should go with whatever works. Such a happy ending. Why?

That said, id didn't interfere with my overall appreciation of the movie.

Whatever Works fmovies. This is Woody Allen's best film in years. Hard to believe some people didn't like it. Mr. Allen is in top form here and it would have been great seeing Allen play Allen, although Larry David is good. The real stars of the movie are Evan Rachel Wood and the great, wonderful, terrific Patricia Clarkson. She is one of our greatest living character actress's working today and hope to see her in many more films. She adds class and perfection to everything she does.

The story could have been quite discomforting with a young girl and man old enough to be her almost grandfather. But somehow it works as we are not witness to anything inappropriate, not even a kiss. Even though David plays an unsympathetic role (and nobody actually talks like that), he's still fun. The evolution of the Evan Rachel Wood character is wonderful.

There are a couple of neat twists at the end and it all ties together for a very happy ending. See this for Woody at his best.

For those wondering what happened to the old Woody Allen, here he is. "Whatever Works" is a script from the 1970s. I noticed that without even knowing Allen has been forthright about it. A few script rewrites -- talk about the Taliban and not the Communists -- and old Woody works in a modern context. Then again, "Whatever Works" is not a film that anyone will herald the second coming of great Woody Allen comedy, but it is one that will win over a handful of audience members.

"Whatever Works" is pure vintage Woody. Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) is a cynical, neurotic and suicidal man that Allen would've played himself in 1977 had he been old enough. He's an elitist intellectual jerk who loves classical music and literature and spews life philosophy. He is a Harvard grad physicist-turned-chess-teacher who considers himself a genius and everyone else a peon. He delivers an opening monologue. He and the characters in this film go to the movies, reference movies and attend art gallery showcases -- and it takes place in New York. This is the comfort food of Woody Allen movies.

If one considers the film's title a mantra, then Allen must've applied it in casting Larry David. David ... works. He's got only a few gears as an actor and we've seen plenty of his main gear on HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm." We get lots more of it here, only Boris spouts some of Woody's wittiest lines and insults of all time. It's great, but it comes with the price that Boris is a jerk and his thoughts about life -- we only grow closer to death, love is a waste of time, there's all this crap to worry about -- make him overbearing. It's to Allen's point, but it's difficult to listen to Boris at times.

In a twist of Allen's love for cosmic coincidence, Boris meets a 21-year-old runaway Southern girl named Melodie St. Anne Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood) who he takes in and via foot in the door, ends up letting stay. She's a completely naive and uneducated stereotype, the complete opposite of Boris and all Woody prototypes (with great purpose, however). Mistaking his crafty insults and fatalistic world view for great intelligence, Melodie develops a crush on him and Boris, with his "take what you can get/enjoy what you have" mentality, agrees to marry her. All manages to work until Melodie's mother (Patricia Clarkson) finds her in New York and her traditional views act as a major countering force to their relationship.

Allen's crafty little concoction about not being able to plan for life and love and all its overwhelming negatives that can pop up at any moment is nearly charming. Truthfully, it's a bit sophomoric for his capability level in terms of comedy. The Southern stereotyping, random sharp turn of events and his choice to break the fourth wall (in a film no less) might all be leading somewhere, but it's nothing you totally bite on. The situations are funny and interesting but not believable or sophisticated enough to convince you to start popping Allen's philosophy pills.

"Whatever Works" is neo-classical Woody Allen. It's like asking your mother to cook you something she always made when you were a kid only it's 40 years later and not all the same ingredients are present and she uses some different and not as sophisticated ones as a replacement. In other words not quite what it used to be, but it's still pleasantly palatable and it takes you back in a positive way.

When Woody Allen's films are released in the UK I usually blink and miss them. I happened to be in France this week so I was able to catch Whatever Works which is having its first general release in that most Woody-friendly of countries.

In Whatever Works, Larry David plays Boris Yellnikoff, Woody Allen's most unsympathetic character yet. He is even bleaker than Harry Block in Deconstructing Harry, this is despite the fact that the screenplay was apparently written in 1977 during what some people refer to as Woody's funny period. Woody usually gets away with his portrayals of nihilistic characters because of his diffident manner. Larry David, on the other hand, plays what is recognizably an Allen character but in a very aggressive manner, direct to camera. I do sympathise with Allen's world view that life is meaningless, arbitrary, painful and followed by oblivion, but, even for a sceptic like me, David's delivery is a little too blunt. To make matters worse, he is an arrogant misanthrope who regards himself as a genius and everyone else as inch-worms and cretins. He even verbally and physically abuses the small children who he is supposed to be coaching in chess.

By chance, Boris shacks up with a naïve Mississipean runaway, Melodie, charmingly played by Evan Rachel Wood. In one of many implausible plot devices she just turns up on Boris's doorstep and he takes her in. Things start to look unpleasantly like an old man's fantasy with the 60-something Boris and the 20-something Melodie although, fortunately, Allen spares us the bedroom details. We are in familiar Allen territory here with an older man having a Svengali-like influence on a younger woman. Then, suddenly, in the film's best scene, Melodie shows that she has completely adapted Boris's attitudes and beliefs, expressing contempt for her young friends' optimism and cheerfulness.

Things improve greatly in the second half of the film as the action becomes more farcical. First Melodie's mother arrives on their doorstep, closely followed by her father. Both are rapidly seduced by New York life and renounce their Southern fundamentalism for exciting new lifestyles and sexual orientations. Melodie's mother, Marietta, mischievously played by Patricia Clarkson, becomes a famous photographer on the strength of some snaps she has taken with a cheap camera. The plotting is quite perfunctory here but it is so funny that the viewer is carried along with the fantasy. And, of course, it is a fantasy that the vast majority of Americans who believe in Heaven and Hell can just have Allen's doctrine of despair explained to them and reject their value systems instantly.

The film ends on a note of euphoria and one can see that the whole thing is a parable. All the characters seize their one bit of happiness, whatever works for them in a naughty world. I liked the way the mood of the film flips: it starts in despair but you leave the cinema with a broad smile and a warm glow.