Whatever Works

filmcapsule

Succumbs to all the pitfalls that the great Allen films avoid: stilted dialogue, one-dimensional characters, bland performances and lazy, boring camerawork. Worst of all, it’s not even funny. All the people in this movie are one-note talking points and nothing they do or say is believable. Talking to an audience that nobody else sees is mildly interesting, but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Richmond Hill

Not the sum of its tantalising parts: a curmudgeonly central character, a locale with a long history, the expected bittersweet story. Instead a passable diversion that skirts over the promise and delivers a second tier time filler.

PolarisDiB

Larry David ramps up Allen to 10 for bitterness while Evan Rachel Wood ramps up Allen to 10 for ditzy youthness, and then the two fly a smooth edge right under the stereotype radar until Melody's parents show up and the South gets a good a-liberalizing. Ultimately it pays off when you observe how all the characters and scenarios come together, but this is the type of funny where you get the joke but don't laugh.-DiB

Christopher R. Smith

A modest effort from Woody Allen. Larry David is fun in the lead, he leads a strong cast through pleasant, if predictable and familiar, neurotic humor and plot contrivances. Woody Allen fans will find it watchable, but this is far from his best work.

Tyler Aikens

Funny as it can be, Woody is trying to say a lot with this film but it's all heavy handed and self-obsessive banter. Not his worst, but not very good either. Other than Larry David and, as always, Patricia Clarkson, the cast ain't great, and seriously folks, whatever the hell did Evan Rachael Wood do to garner all this notoriety? A bad Green Day video? That sappy, pre-teen porn "16"?

Lefteris Becerra

aunque en algunos momentos y en total se siente un poco forzada, no deja de ser valioso que un gringo opine sobre sus paisanos y su nación casi lo mismo que cualquier persona medianamente informada del mundo. el recurso de larry david dirigiéndose a la audiencia es muy bueno. pareciera que con allen, cualquier cosa funciona

REH1101

Funny. Hopefully Woody will wake the fuck up and make a film with himself as the main character, and Larry David as a supporting cast member. He keeps telling the same story and I think the man has more than enough insight to write something fresh and interesting before he retires from the game.

Daniel S.

Highly recommended. It would be interesting to count how many mediums or/and magicians appear in the Allen movies. 90 minutes of sheer pleasure.