When Boris meets a young Melodie, begging for food, (a confused and out of her element Evan Rachel Wood), the two begin an unlikely bond built on the extremities of their personalities. It makes sense then that, for the sake of character assassination, the two get together and become something approaching a couple, eventually marrying and trying to get through life together, despite their age and interests.

Soon, Melodie’s parents, one after the other, join the newly anointed couple; they too have come to New York in search of new life. The city, like in so many other Allen films, is a beacon of change, a remodeled safeguard of the human spirit. But where the New York of the 70’s and 80’s captured the imagination, it is not much more than a backdrop. Underwhelming scenery and direction have almost made a mockery of the geography, and it doesn’t help that none of the characters has any reason to be with one another.

As it gets more ridiculous, Whatever Works tries to make sense of it mess; the cleanup is a much more difficult task, however. That credo that is the film’s title carries less emotional and dramatic weight when almost the entire cast retracts to a comfort zone that is more childlike than learned and achieved.

There are perks: David’s Boris is worth watching for his self-important, arching, paeans to living in the city, or just living in general. The narrative asides contain a little vitriol, something Allen hasn’t injected in the river of his work for quite some time.

Still, it’s mostly a one-man show. Whatever Works might have, well…. worked more effectively if it turned Boris against the world; for laughs, of course, but still realizing the depths of his comic negativity. It might have made it more believable. This isn’t to say that the film isn’t deserving of some ray of light, but to steer his characters so shamefully into the direction of artless optimism, Allen has pandered to an audience he might not have known he ever had: Those who are aware of his tradition but willing to concede to a shoulder shrugging easy way out. It makes for a decent 90 minutes, but otherwise, the laughs, the “pain” – they are just as fleeting.

Movie Grade: C-

Synopsis:

An eccentric New Yorker played by Larry David abandons his upper class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He meets a young girl from the south and her family and no two people seem to get along in the entanglements that follow. This is a comedy also starring Ed Begley Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Conleth Hill, Michael McKean, Evan Rachel Wood, and a number of other amusing types.