Review of Whatever Works (2009) by Mark D — 09 Apr 2010

Woody Allen's forgotten screenplay from the 70s was left on the shelves after his first choice for the lead role died. When a writer's strike was looming on the horizon he dusted it off and handed Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) the lead.

Larry plays Boris Yelnikoff, a rudely arrogant old man who is at that age where not only does he hold everyone in humanity in contempt, he believes that he has life all figured out for himself, which he explains to audiencel; There is no God, life is just random chaos and you must do anything to get by, in essence do "whatever works".

Boris doesn't consider that "whatever" would amount to taking in Melody, a young woman from the South trying to find her way in NY. She's not the brightest bulb in the box compared to Boris (who was almost nominated for a Nobel Prize, something he's always quick to tell people about), but Boris' intellect begins to rub off on her and it's not too long before they decide to get married. A little later on Boris meets his in-laws (who are younger than him) and both of them become corrupted by the pleasures of the big city.

The title may be "Whatever Works", so rest assured there will be plenty of discussions as to what does or doesn't fly with the viewer, but the whole storyline seems to be a mish mash of stuff Allen has already gone over with far better success: The older guy dating a young girl who grows intellectually was used far better in "Manhattan", the elderly intellectual cut off from the world dating a woman who wants to be a part of it was used in arguably Allen's best film "Hannah And Her Sisters". So when some of those developments begin to occur in the latest Woody film, it doesn't come across as a big shock. It's important to note that the script was shelved in 1977, just before Allen moved away from his movies-disguised-as-standup-performances phase and into his huge success "Annie Hall", just as lighthearted as his earlier films but far more of a film than a standup performance, which "Whatever Works" seems to emulate at times (the 4th wall is broken plenty of times). Boris does have some good lines in there but he's so one-note that if you don't like his brand of dark humour the whole thing will get rather tiresome and annoying after a while. The rest of the cast comprised of Boris' friends along with Melody + her parents are also stuck in a single note (apart from Evan Rachel Wood as Melody), the whole story is wrapped up far too nicely to go with Boris' belief that life is an assembly of random happenings and the film is rather self indulgent with Boris trying to force his opinions on everyone around him, including the audience (he tells all his friends that there's an audience watching him).

Woody Allen's reputation was forged in the 70s and 80s as a comedic genius with a good understanding of human relationships, but his form in the 00s seems to have taken a considerable drop, you're not quite sure if he's having any fun with his material or if he has any personal attachment to his scripts anymore. Most of Allen's work in this period have been mostly derided, and despite some opinions on "Whatever Works" being divided, it seems Woody Allen's slump in form shows little signs of recovery.