Director: Woody Allen | Rated: PG-13 | Review date: 12-Jan-2010

Comedic master Larry David stars in Woody Allen’s latest narrative, Whatever Works. David plays Boris Yellnikoff, an egotistical, rude, and anti-everything scholar who seems to be too smart for his own good. His know-it-all attitude causes his relationships to deteriorate and frequently pushes him into a suicidal state. Everything changes when Boris meets Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood). The southern bell lands literally on Boris’ doorstep and he reluctantly allows her to stay with him.

Melodie’s sunny personality is ignorant to Boris’ constant belittling, which slowly causes an unlikely relationship. David and Wood play off of each other perfectly and form one of the most hilarious on screen pairs I’ve seen in a while. The rest of the cast is equally amusing, however the most funniest parts of the films are when they are playing off of Boris’ dialog. Woody Allen is certainly in top writing form with his clever yet basic quips that do everything but disappoint.

In the midst of all of the film’s antics, it still manages to tell a heartfelt and thought provoking story about life. Relationships, family, and even sexuality are touched at in this witty and sometimes dark laugh fest. At the end of the day, the film reminds us to simply enjoy “whatever works,” which is a simple yet deep message. Woody Allen’s ability to present true-to-life situations with side-splitting humor is still seldom unmatched. The only part I had trouble with for this film was to forget that Larry David was not playing Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiaism, but this was soon overcome when the more pompous sides of Boris came out.

IMDb/trailers | Official site

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