‘Whatever Works’ Doesn’t

Who says time travel isn’t possible?

I spent 92 long minutes in Woody Allen’s cinematic wayback machine yesterday, reliving almost all the 60’s pseudo-psychoanalytic cultural neuroses, nihilism and negative leftist judgmental-stereotypes he popularized then that still have us on the couch and at each other’s throats.

Allen wrote the script more than 30 years ago with Zero Mostel in mind as the obvious, self-involved, Allen alter-ego lead character living in a psychobabble New York City hell of his own creation. But a not so funny thing happened on Zero’s way to the Forum years ago, leaving Allen to look for an actor who could convincingly play the part of a brilliant Jewish string theory former professor in his sixties who manages to schtup and then marry a vulnerable, naive teenager. The familiar ring of that scenario is integral to the theme of “Whatever,” which is that there is no God, everything that happens is just random cosmic kaka, and so we should all do whatever gets us our jollies. (more…)

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Tags: "Whatever Works", Freud, Jung, Larry David, woody allen
Posted Jul 16th 2009 at 8:32 am in Entertainment, Politics | 18335494 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dgifford/2009/07/16/whatever-works-or-whatever/%27Whatever+Works%27+Doesn%27t2009-07-16+15%3A32%3A50Dan+Gifford

‘Whatever’ Doesn’t Work: An Email from God to Woody Allen

From: God<god@heaven.org>
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 07:03:37 -0700 (PDT)
 
To: Woody<woody.allen@mischugana.com>
 
Subject: Your latest verkaktah film.
 
Dear Woody,
 
Would it kill you to pick up the phone and call your father once in a while?  That’s what happens with kids they get to smart for their own good and think they don’t need me.

And now, you come out with this “Whatever Works” film. What, you think that shemdrick Larry David who plays that louse Yellnikoff can out match me with a formula? Never happen! I created formulas. In one of his rants he tried to pull a fast one on the audience about Job. Yellnikoff whined that all that Job got for his piousness was suffering. So, why suffer? Right? Wrong. I was teaching Job how to be patient! Something you, Yellnikoff, and apparently that David character have never learned. (more…)

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Tags: "Broadway Danny Rose", "Whatever Works", God, Heaven, woody allen
Posted Jul 8th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Religion | 17784678 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/nanenberg/2009/07/08/whatever-doesnt-work-an-email-from-god-to-woody-allen/%27Whatever%27+Doesn%27t+Work%3A+An+Email+from+God+to+Woody+Allen2009-07-08+12%3A02%3A11Noel+Anenberg

Review: ‘Whatever Works’

Woody Allen’s told his share of dark stories. “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989) and “Match Point” (2005) immediately come to mind. Both are remarkable films that delve into the auteur’s well-traveled theme of what morality means in a world he sees as godless and pointlessly random.  In each, the protagonist plots and carries out a cold-blooded murder. Neither is caught or punished. In fact, both prosper. Without condoning the behavior, Allen expertly uses the dramatic extreme of murder to illustrate his belief that we live in a world where if you can get past the law and over your own conscience, it’s all relative. And you need not agree to find this idea fascinating.

With “Whatever Works,” a deeply unpleasant, unfunny “comedy” starring Larry David, Allen takes a disturbing stride towards condoning this form of nihilism. We’re far beyond “The Heart Wants What It Wants,” the memorable theme explored so tenderly in Allen’s 1986 masterpiece “Hannah and Her Sisters.” In that film there were at least very real and human consequences to infidelity and other selfish, romantic pursuits. No more. “Whatever Works” might as well be titled “Whatever Works Works.” (more…)

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Tags: "Whatever Works", Ed Begley Jr., evan rachel wood, Hannah and Her Sisters, Larry David
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 6:59 pm in Featured Story, Reviews | 17642270 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/03/review-whatever-works/Review%3A+%27Whatever+Works%272009-07-04+01%3A59%3A57John+Nolte