It’s been a tough few years for Woody Allen fans. His last few films have had the feeling of a man who was unsure about where to go– self-consciously distancing himself from what had become his stock in trade. The results were patchy at best as he moved from muse to muse and from city to city looking for inspiration. Apart from that characteristic font, one would hardly know that the abysmal Match Point and Cassandra’s Dream were made by the same man who made Annie Hall.
With Vicky Cristina Barcelona and now Whatever Works, Allen seems to have come out from under a dark cloud. Whatever Works is already being hailed as a “return to form” for the once great director. I would half agree with the sentiment; Whatever Works definitely has that wonderfully familiar feeling of a “Woody Allen film” but is more Manhattan Murder Mystery than Manhattan. Still, it is undeniably good to see him back in New York and in playful mood.
I can’t help but think that the presence of Larry David plays a large part in this as he takes on the role of a neurotic physicist who falls for a young runaway. Allen’s writing is so idiosyncratic that (much like Tarantino) the characters he creates find it difficult to break free from His Masters Voice. Here though, Allen seems to have written with David’s persona very much in mind, meaning that he never feels like a puppet. Writing for David, Allen has free rein to inject a healthy dose of misanthropy into his usual neurotic shtick resulting in the best material he has come up with in years. The straight to camera monologues are laden with the kind of spitfire philosophising that harks back to his early years.
David’s performance may not be as relaxed as his painfully natural (almost entirely improvised) turn in Curb Your Enthusiasm but this style suits a film which constantly acknowledges itself as artificial (as Boris talks to the audience and the boom mic constantly dips in and out of shot). The supporting cast, including Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr., ham it up outrageously providing a nice balance to David’s downbeat style.
Whatever Works may be a little too silly and self-conscious to take its place among the classics of Allen’s past but is nevertheless witty and warm with enough laughs to satisfy any audience.