College Times

Issue date: 7/2/09 Section: Movies

Media Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

In Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" there's little semblance of a plot, too much agonizing self-deprecation and 92 minutes of Larry David's annoying antics.

But hey, like the movie's mantra, do whatever works.

Under Allen's direction, the combination of negativity and life-is-meaningless-babble comes together to make a truly funny comedy.

Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) is a washed up physicist once nominated for a Nobel Prize. These days, he's just a crotchety old man who wants little to do with anything in this "dark, unspeakably violent universe." He sees no point in relationships because no one can match his intellect. That's until Melodie St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), an impressionable young runaway from the South, enters his cosmopolitan life in New York City.

Against all odds they become a happy couple. When her family shows up, an unlikely series of love affairs emerge that will at least keep you shocked, if not laughing.

One part rip on Southern culture, one part satire of Northeast intellectuals and one part existentialist commentary, this movie is not for everyone: mainly Bible-toting, NRA cardholders. At times it almost feels like a big, pessimistic inside joke between Allen and David.

There's no point to life. No one "gets it" but Boris. The inexplicable old man, young woman love dynamic is a played-out Allen fantasy, and David is actually less likable than usual (if that's possible). At one point Boris, who loathes clichés, uses one to describe the improbability of his new romance. When Melodie calls out his hypocrisy, he says that sometimes a cliché is the best way to get our point across. It's symbolic of how Allen and David forge a good movie; that couldn't be any more Allen-David cliché.

While shooting, David expressed anxiety over his on screen film debut. He feared he was going to ruin the movie, he said. While he's no actor, he strikes his mark: creating the world's most miserable character that you can't help but like. The story and dialogue belong in a play. There are even monologues directed at the audience. In the end, the plot grows predictable. But it's whatever works. And this comedy does.

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