Whatever Works

Day 8/192-Whatever Works: Starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood

Whatever Works was on my radar for a good while. I love Larry David even though I haven't seen a huge amount of Curb and the two Woody Allen films I have seen (Annie Hall and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) were terrific. When I first saw the trailers for this film I was very excited indeed. And it wasn't half bad.

But it certainly wasn't great either.

Whatever Works centres on Boris Yellnikoff (David) an obsessed and panic stricken genius with a very low opinion of the human race and the world in general. Occasionally stopping to talk to the camera, most of the screentime is filled with his rants and put-downs. His life changes when a young runaway named Melody (Wood) comes up to his home for some food and ends up staying a while.

Melody starts to fall for Boris despite their remarkable differences and she settles into life in New York, getting a job and becoming a permanent fixture in Boris's house. Boris begins to warm to her after his initial concerns and soon enough they are married.

The film is great up until Melody's mother arrives on the scene and the focus is taken away from the main characters. Before that though, Boris's sheer contempt for the world becomes a little grating as he continues to insult Melody, who is too sweet to hold it against him. He is at times very funny though, particularly in the scenes where he is teaching chess lessons, but overall it can be a bit much.



In the end the film diverts from any of the initial interest for a good 30 minutes and reverts back just to tie everything up. A side-story involving Melody's dad is jammed in with no real relevance.

Evan Rachel Wood is fantastic though as she breathes life into a character who just serves as fodder to Boris's put-downs. The way she manages to keep her patience with him as well as smiling and keeping interested in learning from him, despite his arrogance, is charming. She is so removed from it all at times she reminds me of Amy Adams in Enchanted.



So Whatever Works is funny and does echo of earlier Woody Allen but is lacking in certain areas. Perhaps the script is more dated than it seems on the surface (having been around for about 33 years) though most of the cast do a great job, but the plot jerks around too much in the last 40 minutes so much that by the end we have lost all interest.

6/10