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Whatever Works
As Woody Allen’s “return” to New York City, Whatever Works is clever, familiar, and funny. It doesn’t have the colorful location atmosphere or emotional fireworks of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, nor the classic structure of Annie Hall, but it does quite well with the traditional ingredients of Allen’s New York view of life – eccentric characters played by a strong ensemble of talented actors, a cranky older Jewish man who is unamused by the state of things, a beautiful young girl who immediately falls for him, scenes set in real ethnic New York City locations, and a relationship-based plot that tumbles forward with wacky and unexpected character revelations. Larry David, who has had bit parts in two other Woody Allen films, finally takes his turn as a leading man. Famous as the co-creator and a writer of “Seinfeld” and as the egocentrical man-child of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” David is an improvisational tour-de-force of dark comedy. Although his only previous unimprovised acting role was in the version of The Producers that appeared only on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” David and Allen get it right – David is a perfect surrogate for Allen without losing the sour snapping-turtle charm of his own nature.
The acting is broad, comedic, and satisfying. David’s character, Boris Yellnikoff, considers himself a genius because of a physics nomination he received years ago and tends to complain into the camera about the miserable nature of life and people. He also limps from an old injury that might be the result of a failed suicide and can’t keep his life together with his pretty, talented wife (Carolyn McCormick). On his way home one night he meets a young girl who has been sleeping in the garbage at his doorstep. Melodie St. Ann Celestine (played by Evan Rachel Wood) is a teenage runaway from the South whose mind, it turns out, is an open book ready to absorb Yellnikoff’s every grumpy diatribe. Fortunately, she also manages to deflect all of his stinging criticism. Wood, who was outstanding as Mickey Rourke’s estranged daughter in The Wrestler, works really hard to play the lovable but extremely dumb Celestine and wins us over with her determination. When her mother, Marietta (played with flare and guile by Patricia Clarkson), shows up to take back her “kidnapped” daughter, we see how Celestine got that way. Marietta’s own life goes into overdrive as she struggles to find the right boy for her daughter while simultaneously revealing her inner bohemian artist. Marietta is not the last member of the family to appear at Yellnikoff’s door – Ed Begley Jr. soon turns up as the philandering father who just wants to get his family back while, of course, encountering more than he can imagine.
Whatever Works hits home because it mines the rich oeuvre of Allen’s personal and very New York obsessions. It is the place where the cranky old Jewish guy who just wants to be alone still manages to marry the pretty young girl and find time to torment the children to whom he is supposed to be teaching chess. His city is a magnet for eccentrics who either live comfortably in the world of art and academia or are transformed/liberated by a culture they could not have imagined in their past lives. Most of all, New York City is a big open canvas where the stories of Woody Allen naturally come to life.
Thomas W. Campbell
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