After a second viewing I really warmed up to this movie. In Whatever Works, there is a lot of ground Woody Allen has clearly covered before, but there is just as much he hasn’t. I think those who feel it is self obsessive and supercilious may be missing something, because I feel it is more inwardly-critical than anything. Woody uses Whatever Works to challenge every opinion he’s ever expressed through cinema, proposing how trivial it is to worry about what can never be changed. At the end of the film, the verbose Boris, with an absurdly exaggerated sense of self is left to realize that for all of his accomplishments and self proclaimed genius, he has nothing more than anyone else (in fact he in many ways has less.) His obsession with cliches is ironic because he himself is a walking cliche. Everything he loathes about the world is a conflict within himself to a degree. Allen suggests that those who claim to be the most open-minded are quite often just as closed minded as anyone else. He also sends an interesting message to the youth of the world, and I’m assuming so-called intellectual youth more than anyone else. He reminds them not to idolize those who claim to know everything, because they themselves know nothing in the bigger picture. Both Boris and Melody are doses of reality for each other, a theme I found to be under developed in Manhattan, and was glad to see it further cultivated. They both act as transitional points for one another. Boris prepares Melody for the future by familiarizing her with the proper bitterness necessary to exist in this era without cracking, while Melody brings Boris to come to terms with his mortality, and shows him to use the time he has to his advantage. As always, Woody has loaded the film with insightful humor and countless moments that require analysis of detail. There is a lot going on in Whatever Works, and I personally think this is the best thing Woody has made in a long time. Should it have not been made by him, nor starred Larry David, I’m sure the critical reception would have been much more favorable. It left me with a very somber feeling, something that very few films have done for me in recent years. For that among other things, I give it 4 stars.