Movie Review: WHATEVER WORKS
By Norm Schrager at June 28, 2009 | 4:27 pm | Print
Describe a movie as a “Woody Allen New York comedy” and most people know exactly what you mean. A film with romantic hits and misses, urban excitement and angst, and a focal character full of both hope and ridiculous anxiety.
Whatever Works is a quintessential version of this sub-genre, one that Allen actually first wrote in the 1970s; it’s also the filmmaker’s first such attempt since 2004, a return to his beloved Big Apple after four movies set in
The latest actor to channel the nebbishy, nervous, needling protagonist is Larry David, a seemingly perfect fit if there ever was one. Thanks to David’s series Curb Your Enthusiasm, his sole acting strength precedes him, that of the annoyingly pessimistic Jew. David and Allen even share similar Eastern European looks and mannerisms. Should be a hand-in-hand match for Woody’s type of lead character, here an aggressively negative genius named Boris Yellnikoff. But there’s a problem: David’s skills are painfully small-screen, and his one-trick delivery seems grossly overdone here.
In fact, the first 20 minutes of Whatever Works is flat-out aggravating. As Yellnikoff, David breaks the fourth wall immediately, addressing the camera with a soapbox-style diatribe made to illustrate his distaste and contempt for everything and everyone. But the Curb star is unable to grab hold and introduce the character; he’s just kvetching really and it’s a bit much. Others who’ve stepped into the Allen “role” haven’t done much better — Kenneth Branagh and Jason Biggs come to mind — but Larry David sort of has a head start, you know?
So while Larry David pushes his self-conscious style of big city crank, Evan Rachel Wood appears as young, naive Southern runaway Melodie Celestine. Wood also displays her own level of self-conscious acting, but her character carries less dimension and more humor, and Wood is smart enough to let it happen. The actress leans in with some natural spunk and suprisingly dead-on timing to brighten things up.
She also delivers the first real laugh of the movie: While staying with the neurotic Boris, Melodie attempts to calm his night terrors by putting on the TV. Recalling his nightmare, Boris mutters “The horror… I’ve seen the abyss…” Her reply: “Oh, that’s okay, we’ll watch something else.” Her dumb sincerity lights up the scene and the movie. Enormous kudos to Allen for seeing comedic talents in Wood that others may have overlooked.
From there, Allen introduces all manner of fish-out-of-water situations, as Melodie’s family comes calling (happy performances by the wonderful Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr.). Of course, they end up acting far against Southern type, changing their ways once they realize two things: They can be who they really are, and they can find happiness in peculiar, unintended ways.
There’s a beauty to that message and its place in the film, and it happens to be the origin for the title. As Boris explains to us, in that dark abyss, if you can find a person to share life with, that moment of happiness, hey, whatever works. If Woody Allen had spread that more generously throughout Boris’ one-dimensional cynicism, Whatever Works would have worked a bit more.
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