Whatever Works is funnier than anything he's done in a long time -- funny in the robust vaudevillian manner of Groucho Marx.
Comment
10/15/09
Whatever Works (2009)
29
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:10
Rotten:25
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Based upon a script written in the 1970s, Woody Allen's Whatever Works suffers from a lack of fresh ideas.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $5,183,644
Synopsis: The New York-based humor of Woody Allen and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIAM’s Larry David seems like a natural match, and the pair unite for the first time in this comedy. WHATEVER WORKS follows a rich man... [More]
Starring: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley
Director: Woody Allen
Reviews for Whatever Works
1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticI actually quite enjoyed this, except this sort of constant rant: the contempt he has for humanity and yadda yadda yadda.
10/14/09
Top CriticIn the end, Whatever Works just about does work, though there’s an awkwardness about it that is never quite dispelled.
10/14/09
Top CriticAllen wrote the script almost 40 years ago, and then voluntarily shelved it because studios at the time expressed doubts about its quality. If it wasn’t good enough back then, why drag it out now?
10/14/09
Top CriticWoody Allen’s supposedly undiscovered masterpiece is a complete failure, featuring a one-note performance from the usually hilarious Larry David.
10/13/09
Top CriticFans of Allen's work should be happy to find him back in Manhattan, still exploring the meaning of his existence through some typically funny one-liners.
10/11/09
Top CriticVicious laughs and smart shots at our "enlightened" humanity abound, but a nasty current of misanthropy overpowers Woody' latest work.
10/11/09
Top CriticThe result is a stew that is not as satisfying as the gumbo which Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) gets to enjoy
10/08/09
Top CriticI really enjoyed the film. It's not Allen's best and there is a theatricality that keeps us at arm's length; despite the highly successful direct to camera confidences, which are surprisingly endearing. Allen has knitted together a sweater of angst
10/08/09
Top CriticAll rather mellow and predictable.
10/15/09
Top CriticThis toxic, contemptuous, unforgivably unfunny bagatelle finds Allen at his most misanthropically one-note.
07/02/09
Top CriticLarry David is the mind of the enterprise, and Evan Rachel Wood is the heart.
06/25/09
Top CriticExcept for brief moments, Whatever Works does not involve.
06/19/09
Top CriticMy problem with Whatever Works is not that the premise is a wee bit familiar. Rather, it’s that the delivery is off.
06/19/09
Top CriticOne would think Allen had worked though his on-screen fascination with the older man-young girl scenario by now. This latest exploration just feels derivative and musty.
06/18/09
Top CriticThis is pretty broad stuff, but Clarkson is so much more vital and amiable than anyone else that you instantly root for her.
06/15/09
Top CriticThough stuffed with witty one-liners and wondrously convoluted tirades, this far-fetched, deliberately artificial game of musical chairs...feels forced, often losing itself in excess verbiage.
04/24/09
Top Critic1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Latest News for Whatever Works
June 18, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Year One Fails To Beget Laughs
This week at the movies, we've got Biblical bloopers (Year One, starring Jack Black and Michael Cera) and an engagement of convenience (The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and... More...
May 10, 2009:
Trailer Bulletin: Whatever Works 
Larry David steps in as Woody Allen's latest on-screen surrogate in "Whatever Works," due out June 19. Watch the trailer now! More...
May 10, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
More...
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