Whatever Works

3.00
    Whatever Works
    2009

    Synopsis

    Whatever Works explores the relationship between a crotchety misanthrope, Boris and a naïve, impressionable young runaway from the south, Melody. When Melody's uptight parents arrive in New York to rescue her, they are quickly drawn into wildly unexpected romantic entanglements. Everyone discovers that finding love is just a combination of lucky chance and appreciating the value of "whatever works."

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    Cast

    • Larry DavidBoris Yellnikoff
    • Evan Rachel WoodMelodie St. Ann Celestine
    • Michael McKeanJoe - Boris' Friend #3
    • Conleth HillLeo Brockman
    • Patricia ClarksonMarietta
    • Ed Begley Jr.John
    • Carolyn McCormickJessica
    • Henry CavillRandy James
    • John Gallagher Jr.Perry
    • Christopher Evan WelchHoward

    Recommendations

    • 67

      The A.V. Club

      Though Clarkson acquits herself reasonably well in a terribly conceived role, her entrance interrupts David’s hilariously twisted mentorship of Wood and sends the movie careening in a far less promising direction.
    • 63

      Rolling Stone

      Whatever Works feels like something out of time and, worse, out of step. Hell, Allen wrote the script back in the 1970s for Zero Mostel.
    • 60

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Features enough genuine laughs to give it decent commercial traction.
    • 60

      The New Yorker

      There was always a dreaminess in his vision of the city, but now it feels as distant as the polished floors and the Deco furnishings of the Fred Astaire movies that Boris finds--of course--whenever he turns on the TV.
    • 50

      New York Magazine (Vulture)

      It's hard to get past the primitiveness of Allen’s fantasies.
    • 50

      New York Post

      It isn't the laugh riot of the year.
    • 50

      Variety

      This far-fetched, deliberately artificial game of musical chairs -- in which mismatched characters encircle, attract and repel each other -- feels forced, often losing itself in excess verbiage.
    • 50

      Entertainment Weekly

      The fact that Allen wrote the script in the '70s explains something about why his newest movie feels so old.

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