Review of Whatever Works (2009) by Spangle — 11 Feb 2017

An hour and a half of Larry David complaining about the world and the human race directed by Woody Allen. There was no way I would not like Whatever Works. Accompanying this is a message of following your heart. No matter how bleak things may be in the world, as astutely pointed out by Boris Yellikoff (David), we all might as well embrace our desires, wishes, and dreams. If it provides happiness, do it and expect nothing less. If something makes you unhappy, stop doing it immediately. Though we all may die in the end and are a doomed race, certain to lead ourselves to extinction, we all have the right to make life less unbearable by finding something or somebody we love. Even if it is wrong in your mind, nothing that makes you truly happy and fulfilled is wrong (with exceptions, e.g. murder or killing people, but that is the exception not the rule).

Portraying an advanced Woody Allen character, Larry David is not just misanthropic, self-absorbed, cynical, and intensely pessimistic, he is Larry David. He may be playing a Jew named Boris, but he is Larry David or, at least, how I would imagine him to be in real life. That said, he does quite well here with incredibly smart and witty lines throughout, as well as lines so cruelly mean and open that it is impossible not to laugh. He is a brutally honest man who would be well served with a filter, but why filter your thoughts when you will die anyways? This is the line of thinking he is obsessed with it, but it is clear as to the source of his revolt and anger towards the human race: he is unhappy. He may be a perfect match for his first wife and his second wife is Evan Rachel Wood (talk about winning the lotto, eh?), but he is still unhappy. By the end, he has finally realized this and though an intensely negative person still, he has opened himself up to enjoying life and all of its futile little events.

This journey is one experienced by every other character. Melody (Evan Rachel Wood) is a simple girl from the south who ran away from home and got married to Boris because she was "at an impressionable age". Yet, he opened up her world to possibilities she never considered. By the time Randy (Henry Cavill) comes into her life, she is now ready for love and able to be a mature, smart adult at the same time. Her mother, Marietta (Patricia Clarkson), shows this same thing, but as an adult. Left by her husband for another woman, she quickly embraces her hidden sexual passion and love of photography. Heck, even her husband John (Ed Begley Jr.) gives himself over to happiness by pursuing a relationship with another man. Against their beliefs of how people should be and act, the entire family from the south has finally had their minds opened to happiness. It may seem that they were "cultured" or "shown the world", but they really just became willing to take chances and embrace who they really are. In essence, they went with "whatever works", not what the beliefs instilled in them since birth had taught them to think was perfect or the right path for somebody to take.

Though the film is pretty typical Woody Allen fare in terms of its negativity and belief that life just happens randomly, especially when it comes to love, Whatever Works is still an incredibly fun film. Its protagonist may be a bit off-putting, but he is also oddly charming and a perfect fit for an Allen film. With the rest of the cast, the film further develops its themes of life's randomness, while also ramming home the film's militant beliefs regarding religion and life. That said, it is neither anti-religion or anti-life. It is a film about a man so wrapped up in himself and unhappy, he is unable to see beyond the wall he built around himself to protect him from the outside world. In that way, though witty and whip smart, the film is also oddly tragic in how it shows Boris continue to drive people away and burrow himself deeper into routine and anger. Once you look past the rough spots though, he is a good man who simply hates himself and once he learns to stop hating himself, things can improve. Thus, though tragic, Whatever Works is a film that ends with assured beauty and a crucial message to embrace whatever makes your life worth living.