MovieSet Dailies

By Jeff Otto

The Movie: Whatever Works

Synopsis: After a divorce and a botched suicide attempt, the eternally negative Boris Yellnikoff receives a shot of adrenaline when a cute, dimwitted fish-out-of-water from the south winds up on his doorstep.

Stars: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr.

Written by: Woody Allen

Directed by: Woody Allen

Distributed by: Sony Classics

Opening on: June 19th, 2009 (Limited)

EXPECTATIONS

What I’d Seen – Every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and every Woody Allen movie. The two seemed a perfect match akin to chocolate and peanut butter.

What I’d Heard – Larry David is a Jew from Brooklyn who falls for a younger woman. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

What I Wanted – Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Manhattan.

EXPERIENCE

What Turned Me On – For as often as you might often want to slap some sense into Larry David during his endlessly entertaining adventures on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, it’s the kind of happy accident from which you can’t look away. David is charming in his own curmudgeonly way, though he is best contained in television’s 30-minute doses. David’s trademark wit is immediately apparent as his character, Boris Yellnikoff, an even more extreme version of the “negative Nelly” persona for which he’s become so well known, breaks the fourth wall in the film’s opening moments by addressing the audience. Yellnikoff’s theories on life are so bleak as to make David’s own seem positively sunny by comparison.

David has a certain ease on screen that runs contrary to his character’s negative rants. Paired with such master thespians as Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr. and even the coquettishly appealing Evan Rachel Wood, David has immediate palpable chemistry with the entire cast.

What Turned Me Off - Perhaps it’s sometimes best to choose just the peanut butter or the chocolate. While I enjoy Allen’s movies and David’s work, this incarnation got to be a bit much at a certain point. The character of Boris winds up feeling like watching David’s Curb persona filtered through the mind of Woody Allen. While David is generally walking a very thin line between identifiable and certifiable, the addition of Allen’s sensibilities takes him over the edge. Boris is such a jerk you wonder why in the world any of the other characters in the movie would ever want to be around him. More than that, you start to wonder why you should want to watch him for 90 minutes?

AFTERMATH

I Left Thinking - I prefer my Woody and my Larry in separate doses. The combo is just too much. This seemed like such a good idea in theory, but watching it play out feels like a pointless exercise. Both Allen and David need to branch out for their next movies.

I Left Saying – Can Woody possibly come up with a new topic besides an older man and a younger woman? I know its a fascination of his, but good lord, I think he’s said everything that could possibly be said on the topic.

Expiry Date – In time, Whatever Works will exist as a mere curiosity for David fans and necessary viewing for Allen completists. While it is better than some of Allen’s more dubious recent material, it’s a far cry from his best work. Check this one out on cable and maybe watch it in a few parts so as not to ingest too much negativity all at once.

More from Woody Allen’s Whatever Works

• Whatever Works video clips
• Whatever Works still pictures
• Woody Allen Returns to His Roots in Whatever Works
• Larry David on his crankiest role ever

Author: Quinn Bender