Movie Review - Whatever Works

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Whatever Works is Woody Allen’s 40^th directorial effort.  The script was written over 30 years ago, an intended vehicle for the late, great Zero Mostel.  When Mostel died unexpectedly in 1977 at the age of 62, Allen shelved the project.  Then, in an effort to begin production before the start of last year’s writers strike, Allen resurrected and retooled the languishing script.  The movie proves to be something of a return to form for Allen.  Had the script been produced when it was written, it would have appeared around the time of films like Annie Hall and Manhattan, two of his greatest (if not his two greatest) films.  While certainly not as strong as either of those, it’s easily his funniest film since the similarly themed Mighty Aphrodite.  

A “Woody Allen-less” Woody Allen movie is always a dicey proposition.  For all of Allen’s many talents, selecting a surrogate is not one.  Be it Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity, Will Ferrell in Melinda and Melinda or Jason Biggs in Anything Else, Woody Allen proxies are typically a dubious prospect.  Allen’s dialogue has a very distinctive rhythm to it.  Much of the humor comes from that rhythm.  Remove the cadence and you remove the punch line.  Invariably his substitutes all end up doing the same thing: impersonating Woody Allen.  So it’s understandable if the idea of Larry David playing a very Allen-esque Boris Yellnikoff gives you a modicum of trepidation.  However, Larry David proves to be perhaps the best surrogate Woody Allen has ever chosen (though I would’ve loved to have seen Mostel).  David has a firmly established on-screen persona all his own.  Allen’s lines work well in David’s voice, though he can come across much harsher than Allen ever has.  Where Allen seems irritated, David seems angry.  The lines work well either way, though Allen aficionados might find the increased venom off-putting. 

Yellnikoff is an unapologetically bitter misanthrope; a genius that doesn’t suffer fools…gladly or otherwise.  He walks with a limp, a constant reminder of a failed suicide attempt.  He’s loud, opinionated and has no concern for the feelings of others.  Not surprisingly, he’s also divorced, unemployed and lives alone.  And he’s quite happy about it.  So he’s less than ecstatic upon finding Melodie St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood) on his doorstep.  Melodie is fresh off the bus from Mississippi.  She’s young, pretty, unsophisticated and homeless.  Against his better judgment, he takes her in.  While the arrangement is intended to be temporary, she continues to stay as relationship slowly forms.  Of course, they fall in love (with her being the pursuer not the pursued).  And while it’s easy to make comparisons with Allen’s infamous real life relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, it should be noted that this movie’s inception precedes their coupling by 15 years.

While Allen’s dialogue has never been what one would call naturalistic, here his inclination towards constantly going for “the joke” exacerbates that propensity.  At times you can hear the actors doing verbal acrobatics in order to stick-the-landing of his punch lines.  The characters have a tendency to make incongruent references; forsaking character consistency for the sake of the joke.  Particularly egregious examples come in the form of Melodie’s parents, Marietta (Patricia Clarkson) and John (Ed Begley Jr.), both of whom are presented as under-educated, overly-religious rubes.  However, their vocabulary would belie a somewhat different upbringing.  That being said, the hit-to-miss ratio of the jokes is strong enough to overcome some occasionally stilted phrasing.  And while not all of them score direct hits, enough of them do.

Whatever Works is an interesting curio in Allen’s repertoire.  It’s a good but flawed film; a relic of a bygone era.  Woody Allen began his career as a joke writer and he was one of the best.    Over the years he has reinvented himself as an auteur, but he can still write a great joke when he puts his mind to it.  His early works serve as a testament to his joke writing abilities.  This film is reminiscent of those early works, especially his theatrical work such as Don’t Drink The Water and Play It Again, Sam.  In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if the film was originally conceived for the theater.  It has the feel of a play that’s been adapted for the screen.  Some of the scenes feel (as adapted material often does) like they were placed in certain locations for no other reason than to take the film out of its primary locale (in this case, Yellnikoff’s apartment).  The third act in particular becomes a little stagey. 

The film does have something of a condescending tone.  Allen seems to believe that we could all become leftwing, bohemian intellectuals if only we’d move to New York and cast-off our puritanical, flyover-country, religious beliefs.  A patronizing message to be sure; both to the people that are leftwing, bohemian intellectuals that live in flyover-country and to the non-leftwing, bohemian intellectuals living in flyover-country that are perfectly happy being that way.  But let’s face it; if you’re at a Woody Allen film, chances are, you already know what he thinks of you.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Annie Hall and 1 being Scenes from a Mall, Whatever Works gets a 7.

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