Whatever Works

 

The depth of Woody Allen's fall from box office grace was revealed by the cinema poster for Whatever Works, which buried his name in the fine print. The DVD sees the film-maker returned to top billing, but is the film a return to form? The story of Boris (Larry David), self-proclaimed genius and “man with a huge world view surrounded by microbes,” who meets and marries a pert young Southern belle, only to find himself embroiled in her family's troubles, will be familiar to anyone who knows Allen's work. This is unsurprising as the movie recycles an unproduced script of his from the 1970s, but here his handling of the farcical plot lacks his deft touch from that period. Yet David brings his trademark churlishness to the misanthropic Boris and delivers the often very funny monologues with great relish. And it's a rare film these days which makes you laugh out loud with a joke about William Faulkner. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]