Whatever Works Movie Review 58

Hello All!! Amanda here!! I am a huge Woody Allen fan, so I was looking forward to this movie for some time. I am a Larry David fan too, so this was a match made in heaven. Larry stars as the lead character, Boris and there is a good cast including Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jnr. It is written and directed by Woody Allen.

Larry David is Boris Yelnikoff, an eccentric guy who used to teach at university and who now teaches chess to youngsters and hangs out with his pals. He can see the audience when nobody else can and he talks directly to the camera in the beginning scene as he describes his feelings and thoughts on life in general. He is sceptical of a lot of people and he prefers to live alone and without women in his life. He describes his marriage with his wife and he is just too odd to live with anyone.He tells us that he tried to commit suicide by jumping out of the window, but he landed on the canopy! He is left with a limp with only adds to his annoyances. He thinks that he is smarter than everyone else and he looks down on people he considers stupid or ignorant.

We cut to modern day and Boris meets a young girl who is on his doorstep. She is starving and she looks as if she is homeless so he lets her come inside his apartment and he gives her something to eat and she takes a shower. She asks him if he will let her stay as she has nowhere else to go. She is naive and has come from Mississippi to find a better life for herself. Her name is Melodie(played by Evan Rachel Wood) and he lets her stay with him, against his better judgement.She becomes a lodger in his apartment. He tells his pals and they are surprised at him because it is something that he would never normally do. He tells them that it is just for a while, but he begins to get used to her being there. She lets him know that she likes him as more than a friend, but he doesn't want to get involved with someone.


Melodie meets a young man who takes her out and Boris becomes jealous. He tries to make her see that the guy is no good for her, but she comes to that conclusion herself and they both get together. They marry soon after. They are married a year when Melodie's mother, Marietta(Patricia Clarkson) shows up and tries to rescue her daughter from this dirty old man. She wants Melodie to meet a younger man who can offer her children and other things that Boris cannot. Melodie tells her that she is happy,but her mother cannot understand why she would be with such a man. She meets Boris' friend Kevin and they get on well. He persuades her to go back to her dream of becoming a photographer. Marietta also meets a nice young guy called Randy James(Henry Cavill) who is interested in her daughter.


Over the next few weeks, Marietta changes from a small-town woman into a free spirit who is becoming a sensation with her photography and who is living with Kevin and another guy at the same time! She meets Randy James again and she tells him to bide his time and she will let him know where Melodie is so he can 'bump' into her. At first, Melodie will not give him the time of day, but after he seems to pop up everywhere, they kiss and realise that they are meant to be together after all. She is miserable because she has to tell Boris. Her father (Ed Begley Jnr) shows up wanting to get his family back and when he finds that Marietta has turned into a different person, he is distraught and goes to get drunk at a bar where he meets a gay guy and they relate to each other and he discovers that he is gay too!!!


So, the next day, Melodie tells Boris that she has met someone else and that she is in love with this guy. He takes it well and tells her that he knew that it would happen eventually. That night, he decides to commit suicide by jumping out of the window, but this time, he lands on a woman, Helena(Jessica Hecht) and breaks her legs. She is a psychic. We cut to New Years Eve and we are in Boris' apartment. There are happy couples everywhere. There are Melodie and Randy James, Her mother and her two boyfriends. Boris is with Helena and Melodie's dad is with his new gay lover. They all kiss as it becomes a new year. Boris turns to the audience again and he says that you have to make the most out of life and find happiness where you can and that you have to find whatever works for you..


I liked this film a lot. I expected it to be good, but it was better than I had expected. Larry David made the part his own and I can't think of anyone better to play Boris! I really recommend it to anyone who likes Woody Allen and even those who don't! I am giving it a 9/10.