It's a sad fact that in recent years the announcement of a new Woody Allen movie hasn't got me excited like it used to. Even when the critics talked about Allen finding form away from his native New York with movies like Scoop, Match Point, Cassandra's Dream and the Oscar winner Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I wasn't convinced by any of them. That particular set of films went from the quite dreadful, Cassandra's Dream, to the mildly diverting at best, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (I am not a supporter of the decision to give Cruz an Oscar for her performance). Yet when I heard Whatever Works was going to star Allen's fellow Brooklynite Larry David in the lead and the movie was a reworking of a script Allen had written in the Seventies I was in 100%.Allen returns to his native New York to tell a story about Boris Yellnikoff, a familiar character to all fans of his movies who loves nothing more than to offer up his thoughts on religion, death and the basic awfulness of existence to anyone who will listen including directly addressing the theater audience watching. When Boris decides to take in a young Mississippi runaway called Melody St. Ann Celestine played by a virtually unrecognizable Evan Rachel Wood, his life takes a turn for the better by finding an impressionable mind willing to believe his morbid outlook on life. As a relationship of sorts develops between the unlikely pair Melody's very Southern parents arrive played by two terrific actors, Ed Begley Junior and Patricia Clarkson.
It's hard to describe this film without coming up with phrases like 'Vintage Allen' and a 'return to his roots' because frankly that's just what this film is for me. It's comes as no surprise to learn he wrote the majority of the script in the Seventies and simply updated the cultural references for today's audience. The sharp wit and pithy monologues delivered so well by David to other characters and us watching in the theater make you realize Allen had to have originally written the role for himself. He has offered fans this Allen-esqe character before through other actors in some of his previous films and it has rarely worked out as well as it has done in Whatever Works. Did you see 2003's pretty painful Anything Else with Jason Biggs playing that lead character? What about the more recent Scarlett Johannson roles in Scoop and Match Point where I just didn't buy her performance as another version of his typically smart, over-analyzing intellectual.
It is the casting of Larry David that makes this movie. I can't imagine anyone else other than Allen himself playing the character of Boris as David brings what we know of him from his own Curb Your Enthusiasm and it fits in beautifully. His comic timing is just right, although curmudgeonly he remains likable and most importantly he is absolutely believable in the role.
OK so the film lags a little in the middle but mostly the scenes between Boris and Melody are bright and funny. Early on Boris tells us the only way to get through this almost insufferable human existence to is do 'whatever works' and that really frames the character in the film. It's all very familiar stuff for any fan of Allen's work but that's fine with me. Watching this movie is like meeting up with an old friend you used to love and had forgotten how much you enjoyed spending time together. His next project is currently shooting back in London so we shall see if this is a turning point for his movies or just a postcard from the past, let's hope it's the former.
Rating: ****
0 comments:
Post a Comment