There are three different types of old men in America; there's the sweet old man who always has a smile on his face (despite the lack of actual teeth sometimes) and a giving spirit, then there is the business-savvy old man who knows the ups and downs of the market and this man sometimes includes a cowboy hat, and finally there is the old man who is cynical about life, can see no goodness in anything, and usually has a few personal life experiences to explain why. The movie Whatever Works focuses on the very last of the three. One cranky old man, and the story of his life.
            Boris Yellnikoff (played by Larry David) is a man who lived on the upper east side of New York City. He had a wife, a son at Yale, and taught music theory at Columbia. But one day (after an attempted suicide, a divorce, and being let go from teaching) Boris decides to abandon his upper class life completely and live a more bohemian lifestyle in a small shabby loft in lower Manhattan. He gets by day to day as a grouchy old man until he meets Melodie Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), a young girl from the South who has run away from her strict Christian home. They live together and trouble naturally ensues when her parents come looking for her and try to take her back.
            As a whole, this movie is decent but not memorable. Woody Allen is the writer and director of this film which would make you think it would be great. It turns out, Woody wrote this over 30 years ago, and just revised it to be more relevant for today. Honestly, it still felt a little dated and behind. Larry David plays a great old cranky man, but when he is just whining the entire movie about pointless things (who can whine about chess?) then it gets a little much. Besides David's acting, the rest of the cast is great! Melodie's mother, played by Patricia Clarkson, steals every scene she is in. Her character is wonderfully portrayed and has a life of its own.
            This movie is rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dialogue, brief nude images, and thematic material. The brief nudity is for a picture hung on a wall, and it is really just a flash. The dialogue is definitely geared towards an older audience and has some tough topics to explain to your children later. Honestly, not too many 13 year-olds will want to see this movie to begin with, but if they do, you might want to be ready to talk to them afterwards about it.
            Whatever Works is the kind of movie that is made for Woody Allen diehard fans. If you are one of those people, you will enjoy this movie, if not then I would skip it. I give Whatever Works 2 and a half out of 5 pots of crawfish. Woody Allen proves he can still make a movie, but focusing completely on a character like Boris is not the wisest idea.