Whatever Works
- 2009
- Tous publics
- 1h 33min
Une divorcée misanthropique, d'âge mûr et originaire de New York, entame une relation pygmalionienne aussi étonnante qu'épanouissante avec une fille du Sud peu sophistiquée, beaucoup plus je... Tout lireUne divorcée misanthropique, d'âge mûr et originaire de New York, entame une relation pygmalionienne aussi étonnante qu'épanouissante avec une fille du Sud peu sophistiquée, beaucoup plus jeune qu'elle.Une divorcée misanthropique, d'âge mûr et originaire de New York, entame une relation pygmalionienne aussi étonnante qu'épanouissante avec une fille du Sud peu sophistiquée, beaucoup plus jeune qu'elle.
- Récompenses
- 2 victoires et 1 nomination au total
- Chess Girl
- (as Willa Cuthrell Tuttleman)
Avis à la une
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.
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.
Back to the film. I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard at the movies, and I wasn't alone. It takes special talent to direct a movie that is so dependent on perfect comic timing to work, and the actors in this film hit their marks consistently. If there is character in this movie that shouldn't be the subject of study in an abnormal psychology class, I missed them.
If you care about intelligent movies for grown-ups, then you need to support movies like this one.
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.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesWoody Allen claims that he cast Larry David because David is one of the few comedians that makes him laugh.
- GaffesHenry Cavill plays the character Randy, a British actor. No Brit would ever be called Randy because in the UK the word randy is the equivalent of horny in US English.
- Citations
Boris Yellnikoff: That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.
- ConnexionsFeatured in The 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009)
- Bandes originalesHello I Must Be Going
From the Original Soundtrack L'explorateur en folie (1930)
Written by Bert Kalmar (as Bert Kalmer) & Harry Ruby
Performed by Groucho Marx and Cast
Courtesy of Universal Studios
Meilleurs choix
- How long is Whatever Works?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Sites officiels
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Untitled Woody Allen Project
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 15 000 000 $US (estimé)
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 5 306 706 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 266 162 $US
- 21 juin 2009
- Montant brut mondial
- 36 020 534 $US
- Durée1 heure 33 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.85 : 1