Whatever Works

[Lazy Boy]

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Written and directed by Woody Allen

Genre: Comedy

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Plot: An eccentric New Yorker abandons his upper class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He meets a young girl from the south and her family and no two people seem to get along in the entanglements that follow.

Starring: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean, Conleth Hill

Rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, brief nude images and thematic material.

Runtime: 92 minutes

I'll eventually get around to it. Sounds like one of Woody's pleasant, diverting pictures. I'm a huge fan of David and Clarkson (who sounds like she might be getting buzz for a potential Supporting Actress nom).

[ilovemovies]

It doesn't look as bad as Bananas which will forever be the worst movie by Woody Allen. But it still looks like one of his worst movies.

[FilmJunkie1114]

I'm pretty psyched about this flick; David seems like such a perfect fit for Woody's style of comedy.

[echo_bravo]

Yeah, I will definitely get around to seeing it.

Larry David is the man. And I love me some Evan Rachel Wood.

[EDsoulsurvive*]

I love Larry David but I think this looks atrocious.

[Strider]

I'm really looking forward to this one. I love Larry David (he's brilliant), and pairing him with Woody Allen sounds like a fucking genius idea. So I'm there.

Strider

[Lazy Boy]

6/10

Whatever Works doesn't really work. Perhaps it's due to the stale, straight from the seventies script Allen dug up (he originally was going to cast Zero Mostel in the lead thirty years ago). Larry David plays a misanthropist self described "genius" whose theories on man are pretty stale and old hat for Allen. He plumbed depths to more toxic and funny degree in films like Deconstructing Harry and Husbands and Wives. Here, David, who would seem a shoe in to fit with Allen's neuroses, has a pretty stiff delivery of lines which felt like he was struggling to remember half of the picture. Evan Rachel Wood fares better as the ditzy Southerner Melody, who escapes from her pious mother to come up to NYC. Basically an excuse to lambaste red state "neanderthals" (constantly referenced by David), this is also a stale critic of stuffy intellectualism, all amounting to a sanctimonious final monologue by David imploring the audience to use "whatever grace you have." Funny, I thought I heard that before from Angels in America.

What saves the film is the spirited performance by Wood, even though it's just another case of a very young female falling for a gifted, wise, brilliant, sexy male lead. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, but overall I thought it was an "okay" effort from Woody.

[chinton]

I have to kind of disagree with the critics. Yes the movie is flawed. Its very broad and woody Allen new york films really don't resemble the real NY anymore but I surprisingly found myself not really caring. The talking to the camera bit while not new since Woody pioneered back with Annie Hall is used to surprisingly effective degree here and provides a nice closing moment at the end. Its a sweet fable well played with some good lines.

Yes its flawed but I liked it.

7/10

[Cronos]

Watched the trailer 5 times when I was browsing around the apple site, couldn't stop laughing at how bad it looks, the part where he stumbles upto the window and goes out of it was especially funny. Not a fan of Allen but I'll probably check it out at some point just to see if it's as bad as the trailer makes it look.