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Whatever Works
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 56 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Romance
Written by: Woody Allen
Directed by: Woody Allen
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 19, 2009
DVD: October 27, 2009
Running Time: 92 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, brief nude images and thematic material
Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Henry Cavill, Kristen Johnston, and Michael McKean
Woody Allen returns to New York with an offbeat comedy about a crotchety misanthrope and a naïve, impressionable young runaway from the south. When her uptight parents, arrive to rescue her, they are quickly drawn into wildly unexpected romantic entanglements. Everyone discovers that finding love is just a combination of lucky chance and appreciating the value of Whatever Works. (Sony Classics)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Time Richard Corliss
No kidding: this is the feel-good movie of the year and a cinematic soul massage.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Yellnikoff, played with perfect pitch by Larry David.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
What makes Whatever Works so enjoyable, aside from the unusually high number of effective one-liners the script contains (this is Allen's funniest movie since Mighty Aphrodite), are its supporting characters.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Easily one of the loosest, most satisfying comedies to hail from the prolific writer/director in a while.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
At one and the same time it feels like a decent-but-not-great film of his '70s period and a perky and tart entry in his modestly successful revival in the last half-decade. Neat trick.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
Ends up being a pleasantly surprising blast from the past, a delightful and amusing touchstone to Allen's comedic prime.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's a slight-but-enjoyable effort, and it features something a little on the surprising side: an optimistic ending.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Though Clarkson acquits herself reasonably well in a terribly conceived role, her entrance interrupts David’s hilariously twisted mentorship of Wood and sends the movie careening in a far less promising direction.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Whatever Works feels like something out of time and, worse, out of step. Hell, Allen wrote the script back in the 1970s for Zero Mostel.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Features enough genuine laughs to give it decent commercial traction.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
There was always a dreaminess in his vision of the city, but now it feels as distant as the polished floors and the Deco furnishings of the Fred Astaire movies that Boris finds--of course--whenever he turns on the TV.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The fact that Allen wrote the script in the '70s explains something about why his newest movie feels so old.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Woody, please: Go back to the European locales that so energized you of late.
Read Full Review >Variety Ronnie Scheib
This far-fetched, deliberately artificial game of musical chairs -- in which mismatched characters encircle, attract and repel each other -- feels forced, often losing itself in excess verbiage.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
It's hard to get past the primitiveness of Allen’s fantasies.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
As Whatever Works creaks along, the attention-getting nastiness of the first half dissipates and it turns into just another Woody Allen overacted sex farce. Of all the insults hurled about in the film, perhaps the worst is its pandering conclusion. What exactly does Allen take his audience for? A bunch of mindless zombies?
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is Allen's weakest film in years.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Whatever Works is very minor Woody, querulous, fitfully funny, and removed from any shared reality.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
While the film is slightly better than similar efforts Allen made between the ’90s and his recent time in Europe, it’s both too broad and too shallow.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A sour romantic comedy, only sporadically amusing.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
A belabored trifle that's occasionally amusing but often just bewildering.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Most disheartening of all is that, after shooting four films in a row abroad, Allen seems to have lost his feel for New York locations.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
How big a bastard can Woody Allen build a screenplay around and still generate a modicum of audience goodwill? The answer: not this big.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Whether you want to trace this romance back to "La Strada" or Allen's marriage to Soon-Yi Previn is your business, but on-screen it never registers as more than a writer's conceit.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The movie on the whole is joyless. Whatever Works doesn’t.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
"Hello, I Must Be Going," sings Groucho Marx in a clip from "Animal Crackers" at the start of the film. If I'd known what followed, I would have followed his advice.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
This toxic, contemptuous, unforgivably unfunny bagatelle finds Allen at his most misanthropically one-note.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 56 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
James H gave it a9:
I'm a huge Woody Allen fan and I think this is the best film he's done since his 80's heydays. Larry David is brilliant and I was laughing right from the start and kept laughing throughout. Some people were turned off by the pessimism of the Larry David character, but being a pessimist myself I could relate and thought he was hilarious. I liked it even better than Vicki Christina Barcelona or Point Blank - the other two great recent Woody films.
dfwforeign buff gave it a9:
Whatever Works 2009 Allen’s new film presents a plot deals with the role of luck and the unremitting bleakness of human existence (with humorous and New York(ish )Woody Allen point of view) It follows in the long line of romantic sex comedies with the usual existential ranting that only Mr. Allen has been able to create and sustain. Attempting to impress his ideologies on religion, relationships, and the randomness (and worthlessness) of existence, lifelong New York resident Boris Yellnikoff rants to anyone who will listen, including the audience. But when he begrudgingly allows naive Mississippi runaway Melodie St. Ann Celestine to live in his apartment, his reclusive rages give way to an unlikely friendship and Boris begins to mold the impressionable young girl's worldly views to match his own. When it comes to love, "whatever works" is his motto, but his already perplexed life complicates itself further when Melodie's parents eventually track her down. The critics have been overly harsh regarding this film. It seems to me the age of professional movie reviews is gone. All I read is hate hate hate about Woody Allen yet critics drool over a stupid psychopathic movie like No Country For Old Men. This film is Allen’s best feature since Match Point and his most effective pure comedy in a dozen years. What a genius of a movie to put Larry David in the role of Woody’s personal alter ego as Boris Yellinkoff. ("I'm not a likable guy) The truth is, no matter how misanthropic, sarcastic and neurotic Woody Allen is, he ultimately is a pretty likable personality. Allen's return to Manhattan after three stays in London and a wonderful Barcelona film is yet another great Woody Allen comedy. Allen and Larry David Fans will find plenty to laugh at here, while others will inevitability whine and whimper- I hate Woody Allen! I hate Woody Allen! Don't believe the negative reviews. It's the funniest one from Woody Allen in many years. There were many criticisms of Larry Davids hard-edged savagery Yellinikoff’s line readings. Some felt it threw the film out of balance. Most of the negative reviews thus far have complained that Allen made David's character is "too unlikable" or "unsympathetic." They're missing the point entirely. There is a recording playing in the opening credits, Groucho Marx singing "Hello, I Must Be Going"; Boris Yellnikoff is the kind of sharp-witted, bitter, muttering guy that Groucho or W.C. Fields used to play. Both of those character comics were huge early influences on Allen in his early films. When he wrote this script in the early 70’s, he saw Mostel as the same kind of bigger-than-life comic personality, and wrote the role accordingly. W.C. Fields' character was that of a drunken gambler who hated dogs, loathed his wife, and kicked children. Groucho's was a quick-witted con man who talked fast and insulted everyone in sight. Did anyone ever complain about how unsympathetic they were? No, because they were funny. So is Boris. So is Whatever Works, though it may be somewhat uneven. On the contrary I found David’s role and character hysterically funny and with great irony. It is kind of a deadpan surliness. Allen's ideas here are retreads - depending on how much this 1970s script wasn't rewritten – But for those who enjoy the Woody Allen experience, "Whatever Works" is comfortable enough. Other critics have pointed out the films weakness’s (and there are some-The ending was almost an assault on our intelligence). What makes this film interesting is that this is old-school Woody. This is a 70’s Allen script of which the period is commonly referred to (even mockingly by Allen himself, in Stardust Memories) as his "earlier, funnier movies." Does it hold up, comparatively, to his other films of that era (Sleeper, Love and Death, Bananas)? Not especially; But is it funny? Certainly. The film has a surprisingly optimistic ending (for a Woody Allen movie!!) Allen has written and directed over 40 films in his lifetime completely outside of the movie studio establishment. I think we should celebrate America’s greatest film maker. I like this film and lot and I laughed a lot!
Hey Guys gave it a10:
When a mildly intelligent film comes to theatres, you can count on mediocre critics everywhere jumping at the chance to tear down something smart in an effort to make themselves seem smarter. It's boring, doodz. And it's not constructive either. This is one of a very small handful of thoughtful movies to come out this year. And because you give pass after pass to shoddy action movies and palatable romances, your affected snobbery just comes across as anti-intellectual. And I'm not even saying this is a super duper intellectual movie! But compared to... everything else... well.
Dan C gave it a0:
Wow. i left this feeling not only cheated but depressed. allen, through the medium of an off-time, awkward larry david, throws at us about 200 reasons why we should be unhappy, panicked, depressed and worried. does allen really take us for such fools that he thinks he's the only one who can see 'the big picture' (a phrase used ad nauseam) and that we are all outside of his apartment window hopelessly banging heads with each other, clueless to the whats going beyond our own noses? god, its unspeakably self-righteous and bitter. the most self-righteous movie ever made possibly.
Charlie G gave it a0:
Finally a movie that has made Cube look like quality entertainment. Perhaps like me you saw the previews and thought, hey, what a witty film! Don't worry, you just saw the only four funny lines in the film. Whatever Works should have been advertised as lite porn for octogenarians, and even they might get turned off by the incessant yammering spewed from Bore_us that passes for...intellectual charm? There's only so much poorly phrased "quantum mechanics" based put-downs a person can tolerate from a liberal arts major. Perhaps Melody isn't the only one who could stand to benefit from some college courses. But don't misunderstand, it's not just bad wording this film suffers from. Nor is it the fact that the main character is an opportunistic pedophile, or that all of the women are just waiting to get it on with multiple men (and I use that term loosely as there is only one hot man in the entire film). It's the complete flaunting of religion, life purpose, and basic human decency responsibility. Instead of fathers being fathers you get sex crazed closet homosexuals; instead of mothers being mothers you get promiscuous pimps that are OK with their daughters being whores to older men but really would prefer shallower jerks with nicer exteriors. And instead of younger women being intelligent, responsible, or even mildly desirous of having children you get brainless ditzes who are not just OK with having sex, but have no other life meaning. This movie makes me want to join the American Riffle Association in case there are any zealous fans infesting my neighborhood. I'd be happy to help Woody achieve better results with these failed suicide attempts I hear he's struggling with.
bill c gave it a7:
Feels very woody allen like of course and with a dash of Larry davids Curb charactor. Certainly watchable if you enjoy Curb or Woodies works. NOTHING
Jay H gave it a7:
Interesting vintage style Woody Allen film, rather typical in his unique style. Very entertaining and well written. I do feel the cast lacked spark, with the exception of Patricia Clarkson. Evan Rachel Wood’s character needed and actress with more depth, I couldn’t help but think how incredible Amy Adamas would have been.
