Whatever Works
by Woody Allen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Conleth Hill, Ed Begley Jr., Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David, Patricia ClarksonDirector: Woody Allen
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-10-27
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Whatever Works
Movie Review: Whatever Works
Summary: 5 Stars
Woody Allen has been a very lucky director in the history of Cinema. I can't think of any other director - with the exception, maybe, of Spielberg - that can still do "his" movies, even if they don't continuously make money. Indeed, with Allen you never know -- he can equally have a hit or a miss, but he still gets financing for his ideas. His latest, "Whatever Works," I am happy to say, is a hit. Actually more than a hit: a treasure. One the best films I have seen in a long time. It is smart and wicked, with great dialogue and very funny --Woody Allen's funny, that is, if you know what I mean: just plain good acting and inspired writing.
Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) describes himself as a "profound, sensitive soul, with an enormous grasp of the human condition," who always has nightmares about Joseph Conrad's "the horror." He is a brilliant man, who doesn't hesitate to refer to himself as a genius - he is a physicist, who specializes in Quantum mechanics. And he may be right. However, due to the nature of his character and personality, he is not easy to live with. He is divorced, and walks with a limb, because he tried to kill himself by jumping from a window. He earns a living by teaching kids how to play chess (insulting and degrading them), and getting together with his equally intellectual buddies, who patiently hear his rants about the decline of mankind. He claims that he spends his time "trying to express to cretins that, while a black man got into the White House, he still can't get a cab in New York." However, his structured life drastically changes when he meets Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), a runaway that asked for his help at his doorstep, because she had nowhere to go. He reluctantly accepts, and invites her to stay for a couple of days. Of course, love blossoms, and despite their age and intellectual difference - he is much older and smarter than her -, they eventually get married. They actually live happily ever after - that is, until Marietta (Patricia Clarkson), Melodie's mother, suddenly comes into the picture.
"Whatever Works" functions at every level. It is original and hilarious, with Woody Allen providing evidence that he is still the best smart comedy writer that there is. It would not be a mistake to say that it probably captures Woody's inner feelings and current state of mind, which are summed up in one of the lines of the film: "In the end, the romantic aspirations of your youth are reduced to whatever works." In addition, it is also a subliminal critique to the right-wing mentality that permeates part of our culture. A comedy masterpiece. (USA / France, 2009, color, 92 mins).
Reviewed on October 27, 2009 by Eric Gonzales from [...]
Summary of Whatever Works
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