Review of Whatever Works (2009) by Stuart W — 23 Jun 2010

What could be the most perfect combination for comedy gold...Woody Allen and Curb My Enthusiasm's Larry David. David has already been in an Allen film before, in both Radio Days and New York Stories, but this is his first lead, and it kind of works...just.

David plays a miserable man who has opinions on life, the universe and everything, and is willing to tell anyone who would listen (even the audience watching the film...a nice breaking of the fourth wall). He meets, by chance, young runaway Evan Rachel Wood, a naive young girl with very little intelligence, especially compared to David. He takes her in and starts a very odd relationship, which eventually leads to marriage and her even odder family arriving and making David's work turn upside down.

Part farce, part witty comedy, part rom-com, this is Allen's first film back in New York for quite some while, and it includes all the elements of Allen's past comedies...cerebral, paranoia, hypochondriac...it's all here. It's not as funny as previous Allen's comedy, and you get the impression that he is going backwards instead of forward, like the excellent work he did on Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Some would find the relationship between David and Wood also a little uncomfortable and you question why she couldn't have been older.

David is a very funny man, and this is close to his persona on Curb, so he delivers the lines with great aplomb. Wood proves once again that she is a very talented young actress, and manages Allen's humour well.

This isn't going to pull in the big audiences that other romantic comedies do, as having an aging man and a young girl might seem inappropriate, but there are enough laughs to keep fans of Allen's work happy. I wonder why, however, it took a whole year to hit screens here in the UK? Has Allen really fallen out of favour with UK audience?