New Woody Allen Comedy: Whatever Works

[chocolateboy]

Starring Larry David. This looks "preety, preety good" from the trailer.

[Glebe]

Hmmm, some amusing bits in th trailer, but it looks a little bit...clunky.

[lazyhour]

Watched this last night.  Hmmmmmm. 

I can see now why Larry David improvises in CYE - he can't act.  You remember his talking bits onstage in The Producers?  This is a bit like a whole movie of that.  Both Larry and the main girl are very unconvincing, and this English guy who tries to woo the girl just drips smug, creepy hatefulness... and yet I'm certain he's supposed to be a sympathetic character!  Does Allen do his own casting?  Change the actors playing (1) Larry's character, (2) the young girl and (3) the young English guy, and maybe it could be a good film.

Ach, I dunno.  It was written by Allen in 1977 for an actor who then passed away, which for some reason makes me inclined to be kinder towards it.  It's some kind of meditation on chance and randomness, I think, but it's pretty woolly.

On the plus side, Ed Begley Jr. is fantastic in it, but he only turns up at the end.

As far as I know, this film still doesn't have a UK distributor.  Now that I've seen it I'm not so surprised.

Anyone else seen it?

[lazyhour]

The Guardian notes that "Whatever Works is the first movie Allen has shot in his signature location, Manhattan, since 2004's Melinda and Melinda."

Melinda and Melinda was one of the worst films I've ever seen, so there's some nice continuity for you.  Admittedly, Whatever Works is better than M+M, but it's certainly no Vicky Christina Barcelona.

[Ignatius_S]

...
...On the plus side, Ed Begley Jr. is fantastic in it, but he only turns up at the end.

As far as I know, this film still doesn't have a UK distributor.  Now that I've seen it I'm not so surprised.

Anyone else seen it?

Haven't caught it - but especially interested that Begley Jnr. pops up. Was going to say that I don't think all Allen films get theatrical releases over here - his last few have, but I'm sure Hollywood Ending didn't

[Mr Faineant]

It was by no means a masterpiece, but i enjoyed it for what it was. There are a few good lines. Worth watching. Once.

[The Cloud of Unknowing]

I found myself wanting to give up on it every now and then, but it has its moments.  As lazyhour says, the last 25 minutes with Ed Begley Jr are just about the best (the line

Spoiler alert

"Is your mother a woman?"

[close]

was the highlight) but I disagree about Evan Rachel Wood - I thought hers was a good performance.  The English character (how many English guys called Randy do you know?) was smug and creepy, but I suspect WA was going for a suave and charming Hugh Grant-type.
Larry David was better with Allen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvsrA4suIM

[The Cloud of Unknowing]

Oh yeah, and I was a bit slow on the uptake in realizing Larry David's friend who takes up with LD's mother-in-law is Conleth Hill, Frank Skinner's bandmate in Blue Heaven!

[JPA]

I saw this yesterday and really liked it, though with a few reservations. I certainly enjoyed it a lot more than some of his recent films, there's some cracking lines in there and I really enjoyed Larry David in the lead.

Did anyone else think it had quite a play-like feel to it, particularly in the scenes set in the apartment?

Not so sure about the New York intellectuals/Southern rednecks contrasts however, that felt a little uncomfortable at times, even smug in places, and Allen doesn't do himself any favours when it comes to those 'dirty old man' criticisms he gets when he has Evan Rachel Wood looking like she's wandered in off  the set of a Max Hardcore shoot.

[buntyman]

Wow this film has taken ages to make it to the cinemas over here. They were showing it on the plane when I went to Tokyo in August last year, I remember watching about 15 minutes of it before deciding it was rubbish and got back to playing Tetris on my little screen instead.

[SavageHedgehog]

Allen doesn't do himself any favours when it comes to those 'dirty old man' criticisms he gets when he has Evan Rachel Wood looking like she's wandered in off  the set of a Max Hardcore shoot.

It is getting increasingly easy to suspect he keeps making films mostly to see girls in their early 20s in their underwear...

I imported this at a price that was more than I would generally pay for a single, untested film on a vanilla disc (about £14) and didn't regret it. Granted as a big fan of Allen and a bigger fan of David I'm not the most impartial viewer, but I do still feel it's one of his better straight ahead comedies of the last twenty years or so. This is the first time I've seen Wood in anything and I thought she was great. Not so impressed with supposed "future Bond contender" Henry Cavill though.