WHATEVER WORKS (DVD/S) [2010]

One of the best Woody Allen movies, IMHO, ‘Whatever Works’ sees the excellent Larry David play Boris Yelnikoff as a sarcastic, cynical misanthrope, pricking people’s balloons and reducing everything down to … whatever works. And that includes love.Into Boris’s life comes Melody St Anne Celestine, a naïve, innocent, good-natured, young, dumb-blond from Mississippi. After a month in his company she is already seeing things his way – or, at least, thinks she does. But Boris’s pessimistic despair can be countered, for as much as he influences her, she also softens some of his rough edges.The film received some savage reviews. Could the critics not cope with the jovial nihilism? Sure, it’s a ludicrous plot, and the characterisations are often wooden. But the point of the film is to not only assert how “meaningless, blind chance the universe is,” but also to show that we can successfully deal with that by whatever works. Besides, there are some fantastic one-liners.As usual, there are no extras on this Allen DVD

Larry David is a great match for Allen's brand of acerbic observation. In a story that often has David stepping out of his life to speak directly to camera, we see the tale of a man cynical of the entire world, who is forced to rethink his views when a runaway teenage girl, uneducated southerner Melody, enters his life.The older guy meets teenager idea features in many of Allen's movies, of course. In this one, we revisit many opinions and moral issues that we've encountered before, but this time we get a different take on the subject. David hates the girl and cannot wait to be rid of her. While he pours derision on her every opinion and value, his cynicism cannot overpower her positive take on life. These opposing outlooks thus form the thrust of the story. Allen swipes at the stupidity of religion, polygamous and gay relationships and, as he often does, the wacky nature of modern art.As a fan of Allen's work, I reckon this is one of his best movies in a very long time. The plot hangs together well, and has much to say. Its cynicism is often hard to disagree with, but it is equally hard to object to the naively positive outlook of Melody's teenage mind. The resulting relationship is foreshadowed early, but Allen seems to be aware of this, as he springs its outcome on us suddenly. It's critical slapping down of witless teenage ideals will likely deter younger viewers who may still think them worthy and right, but for those of use who are old enough to have grown-up children of our own, the wit is knowing and right on the button. It's a short movie, but a great one.

Boris, Larry David's character here, seems like Allen imagining someone, possibly himself (although according to Allen the Boris part was written years ago for Zero Mostel), allowing themselves the license to vent all their most bilious thoughts without any kind of filter. For some this kind of thing - as when Boris, Larry David's self-proclaimed nearly-Nobel winning genius, berates the mother of one of his chess pupils - might induce much belly-laughter, but for me it's rather close to the knuckle.But thanks in part to liberal recourse to Allen's oft-used brand of semi 'magic realism' - Boris addresses the off-screen audience directly at numerous points throughout the film - and the overall ludicrousness of it all, it (kind of) softens the repeated blows delivered via Boris' unrelenting barrage of egoistic misanthropy. The plausibility factor here seems very low: I can't see a real life Boris having any chess pupils, let-alone friends, and much less the babe he snares and continually denigrates here.But the whole goofy package allows Allen to meditate in a darkly comical way on the odd and perhaps futile nature of our lives. Along the way there are some truly lovely classic Allen moments, such as a favourite recurrent motif of Allen's whereby he indulges himself in portraying American conservative types with an almost Gillray-esque degree of farcical satire: in 'Everyone Says I Love You' Lukas Haas has a brain aneurism that turns him into a gun-lobby Republican; in 'Midnight In Paris' Owen Wilson's Gil says to his fiancée 'Your father defends the right wing of the Republican party and I happen to think they represent sub-mental Neanderthals'; and here we have Ed Begley Jr as a joyless and hypocritical Christian fundamentalist who's actually a repressed homosexual: 'The way I felt towards the tight end on the football team... Every time he got in the line of scrimmage and bent over.' Allen also uses the Begley character to take another pop at the NRA, just for good measure.Not my favourite Allen movie, nor, I think, anywhere near his best. But by mainstream standards this is, like the curmudgeonly Boris, genius level.

As a newcomer to Woody Allen's movies, I decided to start with an actor I knew - Larry David, of the superb Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-writer of the classic Seinfeld. A brilliant character actor, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed.David plays a character not dissimilar to his role in "Curb", but if anything he's more morose and downbeat. David himself has many similarities to Allen; as a middle-aged Jewish comedy writer living in New York, it's not surprising that you feel you're watching Woody himself half the time.The premise is fairly straightforward; Southern girl finds herself adrift in the big city. But from there the film goes off on a series of slightly more unexpected tangents. The relationship between Boris (Larry David) and Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood) is acutely observed.Black humour runs throughout, and Allen turns what could have been a profoundly depressing series of events into a humourous and ultimately redemptive story. If you like your humour offbeat and aren't into the typical saccharine Hollywood rom-com, this is the film for you.