Whatever Works, even when it doesn’t completely
I’m a gigantic Woody Allen fan (and no I’m not ashamed) and have followed the man’s work, even his plays (yes, he wrote plays). What I found is that in everything he has done starts with a cynical main character that the rest of the characters revolve around. From his play about meeting death, to about every film he did in the 90s, it has all panned out the same way. Whatever Works is no different, as we find our main character, Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), is a man who lives every day like he has just found out he is going to die. Yellnikoff’s main issue is that he believes, thanks to in genius mind, that he has seen and figured out everything that life has to offer. His only option in life is waiting for death, which he just wants to quickly speed up (he tried to throw himself out of a window, but failed to die). After meeting a young runaway named Melodie, he soon finds that his doom and gloom life is starting to bloom, of all things, purpose. The question is, can Yellnikoff fight his urge to die or accept his urge to go with the flow (the Melodie way)? Only the movie will tell.
Like I stated above, this is a typical Woody Allen character inserted inside of a typical Woody Allen film. Much like Allen’s movies Deconstructing Harry or Mighty Aphrodite, it’s the same situation. You have a lovable loser, who has given up on life and is too smart for everyone, trying to find a point in life. It’s the exact same pattern in almost all of Allen’s films. It guarantees humor and cynicism like no other type of film, but it does repeat over and over again. If you’re going into this film expecting something different then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Now, if you can look beyond that then you’re going to be golden. While the character might be the same as other Allen movies (basically it’s who Allen is) the use of Larry David seems extremely appropriate here. David has to be the long last cousin to Allen, as the comedy genius plays a perfect doom/gloom character in Yellnikoff. He looks like he’s suffering and he certainly plays ‘smarter than you’ perfectly. The only thing frightfully hideous about his role in the film is that he wears shorts.
Legs aside, the story is an interesting one and strays somewhat to the side when it comes to a typical Allen cookie cutter. Don’t get me wrong, I think that it still has that same flavor to it (I stand by my words above), but it’s refreshing to see a different outcome. Allen touches upon outer problems in other people rather than self-centering the movie around the main character. Don’t get me wrong, you still get a lot of Larry David, but the story develops outside of David. For example, Yellnikoff introduces us to Melodie; because of this meeting we are introduced to Melodie’s mom and dad. If Yellnikoff hadn’t found Melodie then he doesn’t find the other characters. The characters find their own place in Yellnikoff’s life, but don’t touch his life too much. Instead of being the sun and everyone else the planets rotating around it, Yellnikoff acts as an anchor so that other boats can find him then shove off to other places. It’s a neat device that refreshes Allen’s formula, but it still maintains what we’ve always loved about Allen’s films (those of us who appreciate him). What’s even more surprising about this film is the ending, which I won’t tell you, but I really found interesting and entertaining.
I like what Allen tried to do here, but in the end he has so many familiar elements that the movie becomes incredibly predictable. That doesn’t mean that the characters aren’t likable and the entertainment value isn’t up there, but don’t go into the film expecting something completely different than what he has already done. Larry David is good, but he can’t break the mold completely from what Allen usually does.
As for the blu-ray portion of this review, the video looked really sharp in HD. There were some artifacts in the video, but clearly it was above DVD quality. You’ll find it nicely transferred to HD and improved. The only downfall to this blu-ray is that you can see Larry David’s white legs in high-definition. The audio, thankfully, has nothing to do with David’s legs and sounds perfect on this format.
Regretfully, no features.