Whatever Works
Woody Allen returns to New York, breaks the 4th wall, and he unleashes Larry David (a “Seinfeld” writer and the star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) on an unsuspecting audience.
Well, maybe not that unsuspecting. Allen’s neurosis and David’s misanthropy are well known to fans and non-fans alike. And Allen and David are a match made in old-school comedy fashion. True, Allen’s younger woman/older man fetish is front-and-center in this film, but it works for the film.
“Melody told me about your theory of life being meaningless.”
“Don’t let it spoil your evening.”
This is but one of the verbal pleasures we experience in “Whatever Works.” David stars as Boris, an old, Jewish misanthrope living in New York, spouting off his pessimistic worldview with his friends, and going home alone to his rundown apartment. One night, a homeless “good ol’ Southern girl” named Melody (Evan Rachel Wood, practically unrecognizable) asks him for a place to stay for the night. She’s as clueless as a bag of hammers as to how the world works, and Boris at first is repelled by her.
Long story short, a night turns into a week, which turns into a month, which turns into a year, which leads to an unlikely marriage for them both.
Eventually, her parents (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr., both irrepressible) track her down, and Allen really twists things up sexually and comically. All the mains are delights of the most hilarious kind, in a way only Allen can come up with at his best. The film is a middle-of-the-road effort for the Woodman- it’s a bit too slight- but you know, he and David know what works, and when it does, it’s a terrific pleasure.
