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Woody Allen's alter ego, Boris (a bitterly good and sardonic Larry David) makes this statement to the audience rather early on in "Whatever Works". The truth is, no matter how misanthropic, sarcastic and neurotic Woody Allen is, he ultimately is a pretty likable personality...if you like that type. Allen's return to Manhattan after three stays in London and a wonderful stop-over in Barcelona is yet another niche film. Fans of Allen, as well as fans of Larry David's "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (which not so ironically should be the same folks) will find plenty to laugh at here, while others will inevitability whine, "I don't care for Woody Allen...and oh, that Larry David! Can't stand him!"

The plot of "Whatever Works" is irrelevant. Boris is some sort of genius-level physicist trying to speed his way to death, though those metaphors are never explored as poignantly as they should be. It all just serves as a soap-box for Allen (through David) to funnel his usual dialogues about relationships, love, luck and the meaning of life. It's all very broad and obvious this time around, but it's sometimes nice to still be laughing at the same old feel-good shtick. It should come as no surprise that Boris also tells the audience this isn't a movie designed to make you feel good, unless you're Allen fans, and then you'll feel pretty swell afterward. Leave it to Allen to infer moviegoers are inherently morons, but we're sophisticates for watching his films.

Apparently this is a re-worked screenplay from the 1970's and the "Annie Hall" style monologues to the audience are evidence of that. In the jokes department you'll find old standards mocking the French and suggesting kids should attend "concentration camps" for the summer mixed with modern humor about the Taliban and Viagra. There's also one hilarious throw-away/blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to James Cameron's "The Abyss" that makes you wonder if perhaps the screenplay was first reworked in the 1980's before its final incarnation here.

In the casting department we find Patricia Clarkson, yet again, is a delight in her curiously under-written over-written role (which is far too simply complex to explain in a traditional review) and continues to build a case for herself to be declared this generation's "Best Supporting Actress" twenty years from now. Evan Rachel Wood is cute-as a-button (oh, as her character might declare, what a cliché) as a Southern cutie-pie who runs away to New York City and meets up with the suicidal Boris. Allen, as always, is luminous with his photography of the "young lady." And unlike the similarly dumb motor-mouthed funny-voiced Mira Sorvino character from "Mighty Aphrodite", Wood's character is actually given an arc here and proves not to be as shallow and moronic as Boris originally assessed, which indicates maybe Allen is growing just a teeny bit in his view on women...or maybe not.

Ultimately this is yet another testament to Allen's world-view, which is summed up here as do whatever works for you to trick yourself into believing you're happy in this miserable world. Sure, there are times when Boris' diatribes run a few lines too long, or when the film stops dead when he is not on screen, but for the most part, this is Allen doing what works best for him. No other director can call himself out on all his personal pratfalls and annoying quirks yet still find a way to endear himself to the faithful who are ever patient with him and his films. No other director can be so charmingly mean-spirited and self-deprecating yet still find a way to declare his alter ego a genius at picture's end. And that's why we've always liked you, Woody, for better and for worse. For what it's worth, when it comes to Allen's better and worse, "Whatever Works" falls happily in between and works just fine, thank you very much.

"Sometimes a cliché is finally the best way to make one's point." Boris (Larry David)

Woody Allen's witty movies may seem clichéd (love does indeed conquer all in most of his romcoms), but they do make a humanistic point couched in Allen's pessimism and nerdiness. With Larry David playing another Allen alter ego, Boris, a self-proclaimed genius, this misanthrope in Whatever Works is the best characterization of Allen in his recent movies. The movie works for me as the smartest, most enjoyable of this summer with a message countering Allen and his alter ego's world-weariness.

It doesn't take long to look at David's work co-creating Seinfeld and starring in his own Curb Your Enthusiasm to see that this world-weary worry wart is a good choice to play an Allen-like New York Jewish intellectual. Unfortunately his lack of real acting talent is a hindrance, especially when he slips into shouting many of his lines. Yet when David plays himself more than the stuttering Allen, he becomes relaxed and believable. When David speaks to the audience several times, the sincerity is powerful.

Allen wanted Zero Mostel to play this part; his death in 1977 put the script in mothballs for decades. As an accomplished Broadway and film actor, Mostel underscores David's limited acting range.

The conceit of Whatever Works is that older Boris in his 60's hooks up with twenty-year-old Southern Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood) despite his genius mind rejecting the whole affair as trite but his heart going with "whatever works." Throughout, Allen juxtaposes the Southern innocence with Northern experience creating a situation where NYC actually transforms the Southerners into urban sybarites, no better exemplified than the transformation of Melodie's mom (Patricia Clarkson) from bible thumper to artist humper with avant garde photos and multiple lovers. Even her ex-husband, John (Ed Begley, Jr.), has a NYC epiphany of the sexual kind.

Although Allen has his characters looking for love with results that will remind you of his Everyone Says I Love You, the sweetness is replaced with a philosophy that encourages searching out whatever works because of the transitory nature of love and life.

The mixture of love and cynicism allows deep appreciation of irony and the transformative nature of experience.

In New York, the bitter and grumpy Professor of Quantum Mechanics in Columbia University Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) is a snobbish and pretentious intellectual that claims to be a genius in String Theory and that the world is completely wrong. During an existential crisis, Boris ends his marriage with Jessica (Carolyn McCormick) and jumps through the window to commit suicide. However the canopy saves his life and Boris becomes limp and quits his job in Columbia. He moves to an old apartment downtown and gives chess classes to children to make some money. When the simpleminded religious Mississippi runaway Melodie Saint Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood) asks for food to him, he temporarily lodges the girl in his apartment. Along the days, the atheist Boris shapes Melodie to his thoughts and the girl, impressed with his pretentious geniality, fits his world. Despite their difference of ages, they marry each other and have a routine life. However, the world of Boris changes when out of the blue Melodie's mother Marietta (Patricia Clarkson) arrives in their apartment.

"Whatever Works" is an ironic romantic comedy about how irrational things of the heart are. The lead character Boris Yellnikoff is annoying and maybe reflects the alter ego of Woody Allen in the present days. But the black humor is hilarious and does not disappoint the fans of this great director, with cynical and witty lines. The return of Woody Allen to New York is great and shows that he has not lost his shape. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Tudo Pode Dar Certo" ("Everything Can Work")

Woody Allen is back to doing what he is famous for - clever introspective comedy - and he still does it well. He detoured into making crime-dramas, three of them - Matchpoint, Scoop and Cassandra's Dream. All of these were good, and one, Matchpoint, was brilliant. Then he made a pretentious drama, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which wasn't good (but people seemed to like it just the same).

Whatever Works sees him back to comedy, and back to his beloved New York (the previous four were all set in Europe). With the setting comes the standard Woody Allen neuroses, paranoia, depression and general philosophical musings that have been a hallmark of his films. The surprise is, for once he doesn't play the neurotic, paranoid, depressed lead character. No, this time Woody Allen stays behind the camera, and Larry David, of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, takes the part.

Larry David does a great job in the role. He was born to play the curmudgeon, and play the curmudgeon he does, to the limit. It can wear a bit thin at times, but mostly he is screamingly funny.

Supporting cast are great too. Evan Rachel Wood is convincing as the dumb innocent Southern belle, and Ed Begley jr and Patricia Clarkson are solid as her parents.

Plot is good. Maybe a bit underdeveloped - some things happen too quickly and some characters seem too flexible - and some things seem a bit trite, but it works in the end. The dialogue, however, is great. Almost as good as Allen in his heyday of the late-70s and 80s. Biting, caustic, clever.

A very funny movie.

Well, my first review for the IMDb. I picked one that I thought I was not going to like, but I like Woody Allen, so I gave it a shot.

I thought I would not like Whatever Works, because I read and heard some of the critics' negative reviews.

So, the first ten to fifteen minutes or so into the movie, I'm thinking that Larry David is better at improvising, as on his own show, than doing someone else's lines, albeit Woody Allen's.

But then, as usually is the case with Mr. Allen;s movies, I got hooked half way through. I got hooked because it was very well done. The story, the direction, the acting - yes, Larry David was perfect for this. It was a risky casting move on Mr. Allen's part, but it worked beautifully.

I like it also because Mr. Allen interjects philosophy in all of his movies. He courageously exposes himself, allows us to hear his thoughts and does these things by seducing us with entertainment.

Excellent work.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the sort of "tying up" philosophy about how we should go with whatever works. Such a happy ending. Why?

That said, id didn't interfere with my overall appreciation of the movie.