Whatever Works (2009)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Candy R

  
  Larry David stars in this Woody Allen off beat comedy. Based in New York, an upper class guy leaves his wife for a more chilled out existence. He befriends and helps a homeless girl and his life changes again. Interesting characters.

• Ken S

  
  While I don't believe ANY of the things in the movie would ever happen (other than because the script said so) I can't say I wasn't entertained, and I can't say I didn't laugh. I was and did on both counts. If you're in the mood for a giggle, check it… More
  While I don't believe ANY of the things in the movie would ever happen (other than because the script said so) I can't say I wasn't entertained, and I can't say I didn't laugh. I was and did on both counts. If you're in the mood for a giggle, check it out but only if you haven't see Sleeper, Annie Hall, Bananas, Love & Death, Zelig, Crime & Misdemeanors or Manhattan.

• Matt G

  
  Mom: Where should I go for fun with my daughter? Boris: Holocaust Museum! I liked it. Mainly because I'm a fan of David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm. Some parts I laughed so hard I was crying. Highly recommended if you are a fan of David or Woody Allen.

• Eliza N

  
  Henry was in it ,I can not be too harsh :P

• Chris W

  
  This isn't as bad as I was led to believe, but it's not terrible either. Honestly, I think the only major problem (but it's a big one) is that Woody is just way too out of touch with the world. Either that, or we as a society went off the rails at some point, and are… More
  This isn't as bad as I was led to believe, but it's not terrible either. Honestly, I think the only major problem (but it's a big one) is that Woody is just way too out of touch with the world. Either that, or we as a society went off the rails at some point, and are the wrong ones, we are the ones who drifted away from Woody's wavelength and into the type of world that Lsrry David's character rips on. Here's the thing, the movie is pretty funny, but not hilarious; since everything in it seems so outdated, it's hard to take seriously. There are some pretty good jokes and gags though. Probably the best is David insulting the people he tries to teach chess to, calling them cretins and imbeciles and the like- students who are about 8-9 years old. The acting is passable, but the dialogue and staging (as noted by others) is really awkwardly staged. This would probably work better as a play. Also, it should probably be a bit longer since it all seems very rushed and undercooked. I feel bad not giving a Woody Allen film more than a mixed review that ultimately ends in not really recommending it, but everyone screws up. It's just worse when this isn't the first time in Allen's case. Please note though that this is only the third film of his I've seen as of this moment.

• Anthony L

  
  Larry David is my hero, if I didn't know better I would think he was my father and somehow there was a terrible administrative mistake back in Hammersmith in the late 70's. Unlikely, if not, impossible though. I like Woody Allen most of the time but many of his film… More
  Larry David is my hero, if I didn't know better I would think he was my father and somehow there was a terrible administrative mistake back in Hammersmith in the late 70's. Unlikely, if not, impossible though. I like Woody Allen most of the time but many of his film I've always thought were slightly ruined by the fact that he cast himself. Here we have the perfect solution, Larry David is a much better version of Woody Allen on screen, leaving Allen to concentrate on what he does best, behind the camera. Whatever works is funny, touching, dark, silly and has a good point. I know it is a comedy but I actually found myself agreeing with everything Boris said in the film. Watching Larry David jump out of a window has to be one of the funniest things I've seen in film for a long time. This is definitely my kind of comedy, I loved it!

• Sarah G

  
  Another thoroughly enjoyable film from the great Woody Allen and one which is brilliantly written, witty and incredibly insightful. A film which is back to his usual New York setting and contains a brilliant performance by Evan Rachel Wood. Full credit goes to Allen for casting the… More
  Another thoroughly enjoyable film from the great Woody Allen and one which is brilliantly written, witty and incredibly insightful. A film which is back to his usual New York setting and contains a brilliant performance by Evan Rachel Wood. Full credit goes to Allen for casting the truly lovely Henry Cavill...mmmmmmmm. Highly recomended

• Gordon A

  
  Felt like old school misanthropic Allen filtered through David, his obvious modern day cipher. Some whip smart lines and able support from Clarkson help to balance the implausible central relationship between David and Wood, and Wood is sweetly charming. Trite ending is a cop out,… More
  Felt like old school misanthropic Allen filtered through David, his obvious modern day cipher. Some whip smart lines and able support from Clarkson help to balance the implausible central relationship between David and Wood, and Wood is sweetly charming. Trite ending is a cop out, however.

• _kelly .

  
  I have to see it again, but I say that for Woody Allen and Larry David, this is B+ because it's solid but exactly what you'd expect, no avant garde surprises. Definitely funny and well worth watching. Imagine Allen directs David in a post post-modern spin of Manhattan.… More
  I have to see it again, but I say that for Woody Allen and Larry David, this is B+ because it's solid but exactly what you'd expect, no avant garde surprises. Definitely funny and well worth watching. Imagine Allen directs David in a post post-modern spin of Manhattan. It's 92 minutes well spent.

• Lewis C

  
  "I don't have anywhere to go. And if you throw me out and I wind up an Asian prostitute, that's gonna be on your conscience." Whatever Works may be a clunker, but it's a charming clunker. I expected a pairing between Woody Allen and Larry David to be an… More
  "I don't have anywhere to go. And if you throw me out and I wind up an Asian prostitute, that's gonna be on your conscience." Whatever Works may be a clunker, but it's a charming clunker. I expected a pairing between Woody Allen and Larry David to be an absolute home-run, especially with people like Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, and Ed Begley, Jr. joining in on the fun. It didn't live up to that expectation. What I got instead was a somewhat enjoyable movie where Woody went a little overboard with pushing his typical themes with the bluntness of a brick. The main character Boris is a typical Allen creation, but pushed to the very extreme. He's like Larry David's character from Curb, except stripped of any likable characteristics. His relationship with Melody (Evan Rachel Wood in a great performance) just seems flat-out preposterous because of his personality. Wood, on the other hand, is one of the few likable characters in the movie. Her charming southern belle is a nice counterpoint to the boorishness of Boris, but her off-the-wall accent and exaggerated personality will get quite a few chuckles from anyone who has actually lived in Mississippi. So yeah, I didn't hate this. I just don't know who I would recommend it to. The story never goes much further than Melody showing up and shaking up Boris's life, and then her parents arriving and doing the same for both of them. Whatever Works is an odd movie that tries to portray a message, but muddles and fumbles with it from beginning to end. A good performance from Wood was really the main thing that keeps me from putting this near the bottom of the Woody Allen movies that I've seen.

• Carlos M

  
  Maybe Larry David is not the perfect choice for the part of Woody Allen's alter-ego, but this film's script, written in the 1970s, is like a refreshing return to the first half of Allen's career and to his New York after movies in London and Spain. Not perfect, but… More
  Maybe Larry David is not the perfect choice for the part of Woody Allen's alter-ego, but this film's script, written in the 1970s, is like a refreshing return to the first half of Allen's career and to his New York after movies in London and Spain. Not perfect, but immensely funny and delightful.

• Red L

  
  I probably enjoyed this more than I should have. I like movies about relationships, and I like movies with interconnected characters, and this movie has both. But it felt contrived - it is a movie for our enjoyment, not about the real world. But for 90 minutes of escape, watch it.

• Tony G

  
  Middling "Whatever" only works when Clarkson is on the screen.

• James A

  
  I'll tell you what didn't work!

• danny d

  
  not woodys best work. an incredibly self indulgent portrait of a shallow worldview, abusing tired and incredibly fallacious stereotypes. i actually laughed out loud 2 or 3 times, but there was ultimately nothing redeemable in this film full of contrived characters, weak acting, and… More
  not woodys best work. an incredibly self indulgent portrait of a shallow worldview, abusing tired and incredibly fallacious stereotypes. i actually laughed out loud 2 or 3 times, but there was ultimately nothing redeemable in this film full of contrived characters, weak acting, and boring camera work.

• Dan S

  
  Although competently made and featuring some great scenes with clever dialogue, this self-loving farce begins to wear out it's welcome in it's final stages, pushing its liberal, free-loving spirit a bit to far down it's audience's throats, leaving one gagging at… More
  Although competently made and featuring some great scenes with clever dialogue, this self-loving farce begins to wear out it's welcome in it's final stages, pushing its liberal, free-loving spirit a bit to far down it's audience's throats, leaving one gagging at it's extraordinary pathetic conclusion. You would think this movie would be good, bordering on brilliant, considering it's directed by Woody Allen and stars the very well-liked Larry David, sadly it's just a misfire, one that tries to be lovable but ends up being near repulsive and not extremely memorable. Maybe Woody should stick to his European filming, it worked beautifully in "Match Point", and his last movie taking place in New York was the very forgettable "Melinda and Melinda".

• Tim S

  
  First and foremost, I am a huge fan of Larry David and enjoy most of Woody Allen's films, so thought that this would be a match made in heaven for me. But then I watched the film. I will say that Larry David impressed me with his acting chops in this film and thought he did a… More
  First and foremost, I am a huge fan of Larry David and enjoy most of Woody Allen's films, so thought that this would be a match made in heaven for me. But then I watched the film. I will say that Larry David impressed me with his acting chops in this film and thought he did a little bit more than just play his TV version of his real self. There is also the absolutely gorgeous Evan Rachel Wood who also plays her character to a tee, but with a realistic arc that makes her even more attractive. And here is where the problems start. I put the fact that Larry being with Evan to the back of my conscience to enjoy the film, but watching her walk around in next to nothing and with her hair in pigtails, made me feel dirty and imagining Woody rubbing one out while they did the scenes. Then there is the obvious, almost preachy slant the movie has (look, just because it's liberal, doesn't make it right to be so heavy handed. I would feel the same way about the Zucker Bros. Micheal Moore spoof they did). And then comes the ending which is absolutely atrocious and just plain lazy. The movie is not devoid of funny moments and looks gorgeous (great to see Allen shooting in New York again), but it fails miserably as a whole.

• Drew S

  
  Clever though Woody Allen may be, I still can't get over the fact that most of his films are just thin justifications for manipulating, brainwashing and then fucking girls a third of his age. In Whatever Works he just returns to the same well, to an almost disturbing extent. Not… More
  Clever though Woody Allen may be, I still can't get over the fact that most of his films are just thin justifications for manipulating, brainwashing and then fucking girls a third of his age. In Whatever Works he just returns to the same well, to an almost disturbing extent. Not even someone as dim as Evan Rachel Wood's Melody would tolerate - hell, straight up ignore - the insane abuse that Larry David heaps upon her. No, instead, she marries him. Or rather he marries her after he's learned that she's adopted some of his ways of thinking. And though Whatever Works tries to cash in some late-game sympathy for Boris and refute his stunning intellectual grasp of the human condition, it's too little too late. He is more or less insufferable, to the point where you cannot be bothered to even laugh at his sporadically amusing lines. (In a rather sick turnaround, it's Wood who scores most of the laughs here, though even those are about nine or ten in number.) Allen's failure to create some sort of lovable misanthrope is undermined both by the constant obsession with and recycling of the genius hypochondriac protagonist, and with the viewer's knowledge that such a smart character should have immediately realized the error of his ways. More disturbing still is ones of the film's implicit agreements with Boris, in that everyone is living a repressed and oversimplified life - to suggest that even one aspect of this character's poisonous thinking is correct, or at least that it applies to all people, is to give him far too much credit. Eh, fuck it. In the end this all boils down to more of Allen's self-flagellating of the not-so-secretly miserable life of a typical New York academic, and at this point I don't really care what he has to say on the subject. All these films just seem like a collection of creepy old men dating young women who are inexplicably attracted to them but everyone's unhappy about it anyway; though they offer some fitful out of context insights, they are by and large the same things repeated over and over to diminishing returns.

• Chris G

  
  Whatever Works follows the life of Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), a genius physicist who blows all that stuff off to teach kids how to play chess and spread the good will of his philosophy to the masses. Cynical to the extreme. One night while returning to his ram shackled apartment… More
  Whatever Works follows the life of Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), a genius physicist who blows all that stuff off to teach kids how to play chess and spread the good will of his philosophy to the masses. Cynical to the extreme. One night while returning to his ram shackled apartment he stumbles on a Southern teenager living on the streets named Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), who Boris reluctantly helps and develops into a disciple of his own Borisology. Of course, the two end up falling in love and getting married with the most shocked party being Boris himself. The problems arise when Boris' new in-laws that are obviously of the red state mentality are thrust into the way of life in NYC- and make Boris' life a living hell. Whatever Works represents a turning point in Woody Allen's career. The film breathes like some of his best stuff from the '70's and '80's, but he's realized one important fact- he is too old to play himself anymore. Boris is so blatantly Allen that it should be announced before the film that "the role usually reserved for Woody Allen will tonight be played by Larry David. You can obviously hear these lines come from Woody Allen's mouth ten or fifteen years ago. Larry David fills in fine and seems to know when to let his inner Woody come out and when to pull a Costanza. The rest of the cast is very good with Wood playing the naive southern belle up for all its worth, giving a comedic turn that I haven't seen from her. Patricia Clarkson plays Melodie's mother who succumbs to the "hedonism" of New York City and instead of making dinners for her husband (an awesome Ed Begley, Jr.) decides to become a photographer and enter into a relationship where she lives with two men. That damn NYC! Whatever Works is a Woody Allen movie. love him or hate him, he makes a good movie here or there. This isn't one of his greatest films, but it's definitely not one of the worst and has some very funny moments, usually coming from Boris' mouth. Being your typical Allen movie the characters go through a series of hellish, obscure, defining events, but in the end there's a moral to the story that you can either take with you or send off to neuron oblivion.

• Aaron N

  
  Marietta: How'd he get that limp? Melodie St. Ann Celestine: He jumped out the window and his suicide didn't work. Marietta: You can't win 'em all. Woody Allen returns to New York after a few stints over in Europe. Working from a screenplay he wrote back in… More
  Marietta: How'd he get that limp? Melodie St. Ann Celestine: He jumped out the window and his suicide didn't work. Marietta: You can't win 'em all. Woody Allen returns to New York after a few stints over in Europe. Working from a screenplay he wrote back in the 70s with Zero Mostel in mind for the lead, it has been reworked a bit and now has Larry David in the lead, as the Woody Allen character. I wasn't a fan of the framing device used for the film, with David breaking the fourth wall, but for the most part, the film had a very classic Allen feel to it, good use of character actors, and a number of good zingers. David stars as Boris Yelnikoff, an eccentric, bitter chess teacher from Greenwich Village. A few years ago, he wakes up in the middle of the night with a panic attack and jumps out the window, but lands on a canopy and survives with only a marked limp. He soon divorces his wife and virtually secludes himself from the world, criticizing everyone he meets for not having his level of intellect. One night, he finds a young woman, Melody played by Evan Rachel Wood, from Mississippi lying on his doorstep. He takes her in for the night and eventually marries her, despite their 40 year age difference and their clashing cultural backgrounds. His philosophy on the matter is that life is short so he might as well enjoy himself. Eventually, Boris' happy mold is broken once Melody's parents, played by Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr., track her down and one by one come to Boris' door, only to discover New York living for themselves. John: [as he kneels down to pray] Lord I've sinned, please forgive me! Boris Yellnikoff: Why do all the religious psychotics wind up praying in my doorstep? I think the cast of this movie is very good. David in the Allen role, works for me. I could use less of his direct to camera tirades against everything, but the way the Melody character counter-balances this aspect certainly helps. All the Allen trademarks are here, including the use of jazz and classical music, characters with smart, analytical dialog, despite there personas, as well as using New York culture as a setting and source of character transformation. All this being said, the film does become a bit sitcomy once the parents arrive, especially Begely Jr (as much as I like seeing him in things). Still, the movie is entertaining and humorous, which is what I wanted and what works. Boris Yellnikoff: That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.

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