March 12, 2009
I dream I have a top secret government job and I push an enormous gun on wheels into a gymnasium. There is a banner stretched across poles and when I shoot it the banner disintegrates. I bring one of my underlings to the gym and I have her push the gun into position and shoot at another banner. This time the gun shoots, but the banner is invulnerable. She shoots again. The bad guys have come up with a new fortified banner.
Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) argues that since parents send their children to sports camps, magic camps and other specialty camps, they should instead send their children to concentration camps. At least concentration camps would provide valuable life lessons. Although part of the humor is in the delivery, your reaction to this line is probably a good predictor of whether you will enjoy Whatever Works. Woody Allen’s latest effort takes him back to New York, with an old screenplay originally written for Zero Mostel. I am not yet sure where Whatever Works ranks in the panoply of Allen’s films, but Woody’s words in the mouths of this excellent cast elicited hearty laughter from the depths of my neurotic Jewish soul. [Read more →]
