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Critics Consensus: Based upon a script written in the 1970s, Woody Allen's Whatever Works suffers from a lack of fresh ideas.
Critic Consensus: Based upon a script written in the 1970s, Woody Allen's Whatever Works suffers from a lack of fresh ideas.
All Critics (163) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (80) | Rotten (83) | DVD (5)
This is fun, but it turns Boris's doomsday neurotic rants into mere cartoon caterwauling. Levant, who never got a happy ending, would no doubt sneer.
Woody Allen is always exploring new avenues. While Whatever Works isn't close to his best films, it is far better than most of the current crop of romantic comedies, most of which are schlock.
For all its wobbles, Whatever Works is rooted in an agreeable sensibility: life favours fate over luck more than we'd like to think, so grab whatever chances of happiness come your way.
All rather mellow and predictable.
After the fiercely enjoyable Vicky Christina Barcelona, this return to New York City is a letdown, though not without a few charms.
The result is a witty, well-played work without an adequate center. If you can get past that, Whatever Works does.
The result is one of Mr. Allen's most interesting comedies of recent years, a funny film in a familiar form but brought up to date by some very welcome edgy elements.
[Whatever Works] has defenses built into it.
As a committed Allenphile who once dressed like Annie Hall and longed to be Hannah's sister, I've loved all of Woody's work and his latest is no exception.
There's just no real soul to Boris, no hint of the mania behind his crazed, neurotic worldview, no inherent and implied backstory that a skilled actor can provide. David is game and does his best, but let's call this what it is: Stunt casting.
This gleefully ironic comic fable feels different in tone from the likes of Vicky Christina Barcelona and Match Point. Woody has dusted off an old screenplay from the early 1970s that he'd originally written for Zero Mostel, shelved when the star died.
Whatever works está llena de momentos geniales y divertidos, pero también de cierta humanidad en sus personajes que suele ser disfrazada de sarcasmo. Un verdadero show de Larry David, gentileza de Woody Allen.
Larry David may not be the best choice for the role of Woody Allen's alter-ego, but the film's script, written in the 1970s, is a refreshing return to the first half of Allen's career and to his beloved New York after the movies he made in London and Spain.
Super Reviewer
Hardly Woody at his best. Larry David is annoying almost beyond endurance.
This film teaters on the fine line between interesting and strange. I may have a different outlook on this movie than other because I am a huge fan of Larry David, but overall the movie was just okay. It is a decent watch if you are in a cynical mood, but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see it. It has a few moments of intrigue and humor, but it is hardly worth anyone's time.
I feel like fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm would see nothing in this film that they haven't before, but thankfully, I'm not one of them, so the misanthropy of Larry David (as channeled through the character he plays) was a bit of a revelation to me. But more importantly, I found myself unable to take my eyes off Evan Rachel Wood's character throughout - she's just so sweet, and she's a perfect foil for the curmudgeon that reluctantly lets her live in his apartment with her. A simple story that's really about learning how the other side lives, and about opening your mind and trying new things, it's not quite as lovably madcap as Allen's best but it's still rather enjoyable... if you can get through the opening tirade from David. Using an actor to externalize the worst aspects of the cranky old man Allen (may fear he) is turning into was a smart choice, and it allows for a particular wink and nod in the last scene that I won't reveal, one, because I don't want to spoil it, and, two, because I waited too long between watching this and writing up the review, so I don't remember it exactly, only that I really liked it, which I suppose means I'll have to watch the film again. There are worse movies to have to sit through twice... many of them. It can't be Manhattan every time out, but Allen's still got it. See this film. See all his films.
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