Woody Allen and Larry David doing a movie together should make for a delightful hour and a half--two cynical, balding men who love to talk about themselves and their world views collaborating on a film about just that. Unfortunately, Whatever Works reads less like a thought provoking, New York Comedy and more like a botched science experiment in which people's lives are pieced together like predictable, oversized play skol puzzles--perhaps in homage of the films title Whatever Works. This is certainly a film in which Whatever Works translates into everything working out in the end--even if the ways in which the resolutions occur seem to go completely against the grain of the characters. I am all for comedy, but isn't some of the draw in comedy, some of the humor, based off of this notion of truth in characters and characterizations? I find it hard to believe that a charmed (Mississippian no less) southern belle turns into a swanky NYC artist living with two men or that a botched suicide attempt lands love (literally). I guess what I wanted Woody Allen to do was to make me believe that such things were possible within the realm of the world he had created, but this film had more holes than a slice of deli swiss cheese. Larry David does do an outstanding job playing Larry David (or perhaps a younger version of Woody Allen). But, that is not enough to elevate this film, in my opinion, above a hodgepodge of interesting thoughts that were paired with a rather dull and predictable plot. But, hey, whatever works.
Whatever Works
Directed and Written by Woody Allen
out on dvd
No comments:
Post a Comment