Whatever Works is Woody Allen’s best straight comedy in years – at least since 2000’s Small Time Crooks, and possibly since 97’s Deconstructing Harry. A lot of that has to do with lead Larry David, co-creator of TV’s Seinfeld and star of Curb Your Enthusiasm; he’s at his sarcastic, self-loathing best here, a rare chance to see him in a feature film and a perfect match for the director’s style.
David’s Boris Yellnikoff (the character name says it all) has been routinely identified as a stand-in for the usual Woody Allen role, but that isn’t really the case. The average Woody character is a put-upon, neurotic, but ultimately sympathetic and endearing character; here, David’s Boris is a sarcastic, holier-than-thou asshole who seems to deserve all the tough breaks life deals against him.
Boris lives alone (it’s easy to see why) in a run-down New York City apartment, teaches chess to kids, complains about life in general and berates those around him with a nonstop stream of disdain. He was almost-nominated (hah!) for a Nobel Prize in quantum mechanics, he repeatedly claims. He narrates his own story, speaking directly to the camera: “I’m not a likable guy.” It’s an understatement.
And into his life comes runaway 18-year-old Southern belle Melody St. Anne Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood) whose lack of intelligence (let’s call it an ‘innocence’) makes her immune to all of Boris’ sarcasm and despair. She’s the kind of girl you can’t help but pity, and Boris begrudgingly helps her out by letting her stay in his place. Against all odds, yeah, you know what happens.
Forget the age difference between the two characters (David is in his early sixties, and always seems older); these are two people we actively don’t care for, and don’t want to see anything resembling a romance between. But there’s something very, very funny in their train wreck of a relationship, and Allen knows this. Certainly, they deserve each other.
And when sticking to Boris, and his relationship with Melody, Whatever Works really works. Then it splinters off into numerous threads – one involving Melody’s mother (Patricia Clarkson) and her entrance into a Bohemian lifestyle, another involving Melody’s father (Ed Begley Jr.) and a third following her relationship with a younger man (Henry Cavill) – and well, Woody spends too much time telling us these stories instead of showing us, and they lack the requisite payoff for all the time we spend with them.
And ultimately, for all its good, Whatever Works doesn’t fully take off. Part of this is due to the tone Woody takes: there’s some of Boris Yellnikoff in his direction, as he distances himself from the material. While this is a comedy, and works just fine as such, there’s plenty of drama here that falls flat because we never know how exactly to feel about it.
Still, the film is a welcome return to obscure comedy after some of Allen’s recent disappointingly mainstream-y fare (Anything Else, Hollywood Ending). Fans of the director should fully enjoy it.
