Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

blanche-2 If you like Larry David from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," you'll love this 2009 film from Woody Allen, "Whatever Works," starring David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, and Ed Begley Jr.David, as usual, plays an impossible human being, Boris, who "almost was nominated" for either the Pulitzer or Nobel Prize, I can't remember which, a self-described genius who sees nothing but gloom and doom wherever he turns. He sees the world going to hell in a handbasket, and after he finishes describing it, you will, too, if you don't already. I admit it's looking pretty bad.Then he meets Melody, a young runaway southern girl who moves in on him - first she wants food, then, being homeless, she needs a place to stay. Boris winds up marrying her.When her mother (Patricia Clarkson) arrives, she is appalled by the way Boris lives (in a dump) and his advanced age. She immediately sets out to find someone else for Melody. While looking, she also finds herself and becomes an artistic photographer who sleeps with every man she meets. Then Melody's father (Begley) arrives, and I'll stop there.The acting is terrific, with Evan Rachel Wood turning in a wonderful performance as an upbeat, sweet southern gal who is fascinated by Boris even if she doesn't always get what he's saying. Begley is a riot, and Clarkson has a different kind of role for her, less serious but no less intense.Someone on this board said Woody Allen is obsessed with death, sex, and intellect. Whoever said that left out May-December relationships, at which he seems to be an expert. I have no idea whether anything printed about him at the time Blue Jasmine came out is true but there's no denying his interest in the under-25 crowd.This is talky movie with a lot of humor, and we don't have David doing a Woody impression. Rather, he talks more like himself, and some of the dialogue is a riot. And like all of Woody's films, there's a theme. In Match Point, it was luck; In Crimes and Misdemeanors, life goes on after mortal sin, and here it's if you have a chance at happiness, take it. Do whatever works. I liked it.

jaggedyer Firstly, I am a big fan of all Woody Allen movies. In fact, I've seem all 40 or his movies. However, I feel his cast, coupled with his misunderstanding of the 'south' has forced to a 4/10 rating for this. I am from the south and his misunderstanding of the the entire script is wrong. The acting is terrible, I believe Woody gave too-much lee-way to the actors or did not type-cast them correctly. It isn't a horrible movie, just seems unnatural and DEFINITELY not his best work. Perhaps he rushed it a lot. This is the worst of of his movies I have seen thus far. I feel he chose the incorrect actors and did not type-cast this entire movie well. It was almost as if he was stoned the entire time he was directing this. This is my opinion.

tao902 One of forty films written and directed by the prolific Woody Allen. Boris Yellnikoff, played by Larry David, is a retired nuclear physicist who seems to be committed to a depressingly cynical view of the world. He constantly pontificates his views and philosophies to anyone within ear shot.A young, naïve woman who has run away from her parents in Mississippi enters his life, managing to persuade him to let her stay at his place until she establishes her independence in New York. He tries to shape her character with his observations on life and the unlikely duo end up marrying. The girl's parents, who have split up, eventually track her down and the film moves further into farcical situations.Fairly typical Woody Allen, amusing lines and scenarios but nothing new.

Jacob Rosen An improbable story whose talkiness would possibly be better served on the stage as opposed to the screen, "Whatever Works" nevertheless serves as a fitting summary of Woody Allen's view of life: existential yet weirdly optimistic, especially in its' happy conclusion, where the individual contours to whatever fate delivers. Larry David (kudos for resisting the usual Allen imitation) plays an ornery, solitary genius who somehow marries a ditzy Southern belle (Evan Rachel Wood, terrible) and together they face the challenges brought upon them for being so mismatched, especially when her separated parents (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr.) relocate to New York. What's primarily disappointing about "Whatever Works" is that Allen's vaunted wit is scarcely apparent here: though it tries really hard, it just isn't that funny. The film's premise needs to be a lot stronger to compensate for the shortfall dialogue but isn't. Still, you leave with a satisfied feeling as David's straightforward addresses to the audience go a long way toward elucidating Allen's points in a way that we can tie together without feeling Allen's usual condescension. I'll give Allen that.