Whatever Works
92 minutes,
USA/France (2009), 12
Woody Allen's New York-set comedy starring 'Curb Your Enthusiasm's' Larry David is out now in the US. Has he finally come up with a classic to match Manhattan and Annie Hall? Still to be granted a UK release date, we've already caught it in the US
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Woody Allen's New York-set comedy starring 'Curb Your Enthusiasm's' Larry David is out now in the US. Has he finally come up with a classic to match Manhattan and Annie Hall? Still to be granted a UK release date, we've already caught it in the US
In Manhattan, the 1976 Woody Allen film about an older, neurotic man falling for a young and guileless girl, Allen's character Isaac says to Diane Keaton's Mary, "You seem to know a lot of geniuses, you should try meeting some stupid people sometime, you might learn something." Which is a handy indication of where Woody's at with his latest, Whatever Works.
Originally written in 1977, Whatever Works contains a similar central relationship to Manhattan. Allen's 1970s heyday has been nostalgically referred to by critics with the arrival of every new film from the director over the last decade, and each new release has been found disappointing in comparison.
Small Time Crooks, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending, Anything Else, Melinda And Melinda, Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra's Dream - all were sunk by bad reviews if they reached the cinema at all.
No new film was rated as good as vintage Woody Allen until 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. That Spain-set comic romance was very unlike Allen's other films and contained a very un-Allen like, Oscar-winning performance from Penélope Cruz.
When Allen started production on Whatever Works he was following two major flops - Scoop and Cassandra's Dream (Vicky Cristina Barcelona had not yet seen release). It's unlikely he'd given the film's reception a second thought, but because it was a thoroughly entertaining piece of escapism, and helped by that lesbian kiss between Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a success. Critics lauded the film as a change of direction and a sign that Allen was finally fitting in to his European setting after five years of awkward, occasionally badly-accented films. It looked at last as if Woody Allen was back on form.
Originally written in 1977, Whatever Works contains a similar central relationship to Manhattan. Allen's 1970s heyday has been nostalgically referred to by critics with the arrival of every new film from the director over the last decade, and each new release has been found disappointing in comparison.
Small Time Crooks, The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending, Anything Else, Melinda And Melinda, Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra's Dream - all were sunk by bad reviews if they reached the cinema at all.
No new film was rated as good as vintage Woody Allen until 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. That Spain-set comic romance was very unlike Allen's other films and contained a very un-Allen like, Oscar-winning performance from Penélope Cruz.
When Allen started production on Whatever Works he was following two major flops - Scoop and Cassandra's Dream (Vicky Cristina Barcelona had not yet seen release). It's unlikely he'd given the film's reception a second thought, but because it was a thoroughly entertaining piece of escapism, and helped by that lesbian kiss between Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson, Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a success. Critics lauded the film as a change of direction and a sign that Allen was finally fitting in to his European setting after five years of awkward, occasionally badly-accented films. It looked at last as if Woody Allen was back on form.
"Packed with lines that rank alongside Allen's best"
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