As a holding pattern until Allen gets a new, better movie together, this works for now.
Comment
06/19/09
Whatever Works (2009)
47
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:123
Fresh:58
Rotten:65
Average Rating:5.4/10
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
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Woody Allen and Larry David! What could be better than this dream team?
06/19/09
Except for brief moments, Whatever Works does not involve.
06/19/09
Top CriticA belabored trifle that's occasionally amusing but often just bewildering, beginning with the movie's intentionally outlandish setup.
06/19/09
An unappealing drama about an obnoxious, cynical, and bitter old man.
06/19/09
The idea of wedding Woody Allen's comic persona (the introverted nebbish) to Larry David's (the entitled jerk) sounds promising on paper, but as Boris portentously observes just before his unsuccessful suicide attempt, life doesn't take place on paper.
06/19/09
My 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 CriticSome may observe that two of every three jokes fall flat, but I'm a little bit amazed that Allen would toss that one good third into such a sloppy story, like a fistful of prized truffles whisked quickly into a pan of Tuna Helper.
06/19/09
"Whatever Works" isn't a good Woody Allen movie, even by latter-day standards. It is, however, a surprisingly offensive Woody Allen movie.
06/19/09
I know it is not as fashionable to say this as it once was, but I love Woody Allen.
06/19/09
Despite the negative tenor of the dialogue, the film itself has a sweet quality.
06/18/09
Powered by Larry David as Woody Allen's most successful avatar; if you can suspend your disbelief to go with the absurd geriatric male fantasy plot, the rest of the film is your oyster.
06/18/09
Minor, to be sure, but Woody Allen's most unabashedly sunny movie in years.
06/18/09
A superficial bit of cultural warfare that pits New York as the epitome of all things grand and cultured and those from the South as simple minded, impressionable bumpkins.
06/18/09
One 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 CriticWhatever Works feels like something out of time and, worse, out of step.
06/18/09
Though this is lesser Allen, it contains enough laugh-out-loud moments in Woody's old vein to make it an enjoyable trifle.
06/18/09
Dusting off an ancient script intended for Zero Mostel three decades ago, Allen tweaks the material enough to supply David with bilious rants about the stupidity and meaninglessness of man and the universe.
06/18/09
a more successful variation on Allen's shoulder-shrugging philosophy
06/18/09
I prefer my Woody and my Larry in separate doses. Perhaps it's sometimes best to choose just the peanut butter or the chocolate.
06/18/09
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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