An acerbic New York intellectual who has given up on happiness finds his worldview upended by an unlikely houseguest in Whatever Works, Woody Allen's 2009 comedy.
What is Whatever Works about?
Boris, a former physics professor with a habit of lecturing anyone within earshot on the pointlessness of it all, has retreated into a solitary, misanthropic routine after his marriage collapsed. That routine is interrupted when he finds Melodie, a runaway from the American South, sleeping outside his apartment with nowhere else to go. Against his own instincts he takes her in, and the mismatch between his cynicism and her wide-eyed optimism gradually turns into something neither of them expected. As Melodie settles into New York life and her own family eventually follows her north, Boris is forced to confront how much his philosophy of doom has cost him, even as he keeps insisting he's right about everything.
About the cast
Larry David takes the lead as Boris, bringing his familiar irritable candor to a character built for exactly that register, while Evan Rachel Wood plays Melodie with an openness that plays directly against him. Michael McKean, John Gallagher Jr. and Conleth Hill fill out a supporting circle that widens the story once Melodie's family enters the picture.
Context & significance
Woody Allen wrote the screenplay decades before the film was made, and the vintage of the material shows in its old-school New York rhythms and a lead character who talks directly past the fourth wall to justify himself. The film is a two-hander at heart, letting David's rapid-fire pessimism collide with Wood's Southern warmth, and it uses that contrast for most of its comedy rather than elaborate plotting. It's a talkier, more conversational entry in Allen's catalogue, closer to his character-driven comedies than his more visually stylized work.
Watching Whatever Works on Ktime
Whatever Works is available to stream on K-Time with a Farsi-friendly interface, though this particular title plays in its original English. Watching it requires a free K-Time account; browsing the film's page itself needs no login.