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Whatever Works (2009), directed by Woody Allen

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Ugh.  Really, Ugh.  This was the longest 92 minutes I’ve experienced since standing on line to get my iPhone, oh yeah, that was 4 hours.  I really wanted to like this film.  It has two things I love, 1. Woody Allen and 2. Larry David.  I mean, how can you go wrong?  Really?  But I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be as great as I would have hoped.  The film begins with two 4+ min monologues (or what seems to be) back to back, which seems like its at least 15min.  The dialogue coming out of David’s mouth seems so forced and meaningless and you can really see David trying not to fuck up his lines.  If that happened, Allen would be all over it,  he’s notorious for having his dialogue read as written and in this case, its quite clear.  This performance comes from a man who has made a show for 6+ seasons with no script at all.  Curb is all improv.  Its created with a skeleton script of scenes and then acted out with top notch improv skills, making a great HBO show.  See the problem?  I think Patricia Clarkson really steals the show as Evan Rachel Wood mother, her character is fantastic, Wood does a pretty good job too.

None of the relationships seen on screen seem genuine, at all.  For me David isn’t bad, hes just put in a bad situation, and if you have the chance to work with Allen, you take it.  As Ghostbusters has taught me,  “If someone asks you if you’re a God, you say yes”.  So, I can’t blame him.   But the story is the same story we’ve seen over and over from Allen and this one is not any different.  Old guy, young girl yada, yada, yada and we have old guy back to being old guy again. The only difference in this “Woody Allen” film, is the ending.  Its a happy feel good Hollywood ending.  WTF?  This does not happen in “Woody Allen” films.  Well, not usually.  At least not this blatant.  There’s a line in the film where David is talking about how he married his wife because they liked the same things and on paper its good but in real life it doesn’t work.  I think its the same for this film, great idea on paper but in reality Whatever Works just doesn’t.

GRADE: C-

Post Note:  For my money, Allens best film of late is Cassandra’s Dream (2007). Check it.

Chris’ review is much better written than mine. He’s also seen a lot more Woody Allen films than I (but there’s so many, it’s kinda overwhelming). However true a lot of his comments are, I still managed to enjoy it (from a less critical/cynical standpoint). At your own risk, I suppose. It’s about an hour shorter than Public Enemies which we can both agree is terrible.