Today Dan and I went to see the new Woody movie, Whatever Works. It was a good movie with some deeper moments, but not one that is great. Larry David does a great job as the annoying, neurotic genius--and he acts it better than Woody Allen himself ever could. He brings more of an aggressiveness to the role, more of a nastiness, and the interesting point is that as a quantum mechanic physicist, he is someone who spends his days breaking everything down to their ultimate essentials, thus reducing it to nothing. The notion is that everything is falling apart, since he views everything on this molecular level, both literally and figuratively.The good thing the film did was having him in the end, when he grows as a character, to mention how he is the only one who can see the "big picture" (since he is literally the only one able to see the audience in the film itself) and this contradicts everything from the earlier half of the film, where he only can see things at their basic, pessimistic parts, thus not allowing anything to get in. (Such as life's pleasures--even the act of sex he compares to the physical motion of a sewing machine). But by the end, he does let it in, and he lets others in. Thus explains "Whatever Works."
Another point to mention is that Woody has not had the captivating cinematography as his earlier films, such as Manhattan, Radio Days, and well, forget Interiors, Another Woman and Stardust Memories, which are in a different league all together.
Whatever Works is a good film with some very funny moments--much better than some of his lesser ones, such as Anything Else or Hollywood Ending.
