THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP
Thu Jul 02, 2009
Whatever Works, 2009. Directed and written by Woody Allen. Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Leo Brockman, Henry Cavill, Adam Brooks, Lyle Kanouse, and Michael McKean.
Whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can provide, every temporary measure of grace--whatever works. --Boris Yellnikoff
That's a beautiful philosophy. That quote closes out Woody Allen's new movie Whatever Works, and it sums up not only the character of Boris (Larry David), but the film as well. Sometimes, when the summer movie experience is an unhealthy amalgam of battling robots, machine-gun wielding pretty-boys, or drunken frat guys, it's nice to sit in a darkened theater and watch people talk--about love, life, philosophy, art, quantum mechanics, you name it. In places like beat-up little cafes, out-of-the-way Chinese restaurants, and knish bakeries. Like many Allen movies, Whatever Works is about people trying to get to the bottom of life's mysteries, and the jokes they tell and the art they create to endure. And while Whatever Works is far from Allen's best, and far from a great movie, it's as pleasant a distraction as any. Whatever works, right?
Continued...
