Whatever Works

Year: 2009

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Allen

Review

the title is also the philosophy of the film. allen is positing that lifestyle choices don’t matter so much so long as they work for those involved. this is an idea that is gaining increased acceptance amongst liberals who essentially say that so long as it isn’t hurting anyone it’s okay. this is fine to a point. the problem becomes when an old man has a relationship with his much younger adopted daughter. she’s over 18 and she’s adopted so there isn’t any law against it i guess and she seems fine with it, so allen goes on living a perfectly happy life. in the film larry david has a relationship with a dumb southerner who is about 40 years younger. there’s nothing wrong with it because they both approve. in typical allen fashion, there is also a threesome in the mix and a gay couple. i don’t have any real problems with others living like this, but i do have a problem with the justification that allen provides because it allows for so many other things that i, frankly, don’t think are good (like allen’s own relationship with his one time daughter).

other than the guiding morality of the film, i thought it was a pretty average allen film. he’s reliable in that he writes well and produces some good laughs. larry david is solid and the rest of the cast is varying degrees of good enough. this isn’t near as good as cassandra’s dream or any of his early greats, but it’s better than scoop or vicky cristina barcelona.

Watched in theater