Sure, you’ve probably seen better Woody Allen movies, and it’s clear the ideas are recycled, but like most Allen fare, the formula works.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 4, 2023

This excellent, entertaining, and intelligent film reaps the rewards of the stupendous acting of its ensemble. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 1, 2022

The script is as tight as any Curb episode, as waspish, as bitchy and clever as it should be, and though there is no ground broken here, there is none lost either.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 19, 2021

Fans of Woody Allen and Larry David will revel in the darkly misanthropic philosophies.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 29, 2020

Allen's finest work in years, and while the plot may rely a bit too much on coincidence and simple conflict resolution, the quick-witted dialogue and talented ensemble makes it all work.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2019

The result is one of Mr. Allen's most interesting comedies of recent years, a funny film in a familiar form but brought up to date by some very welcome edgy elements.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 6, 2018

Whatever Works is a very funny Woody Allen movie about things that many - all right, most - of Allen's movies are about.

| Oct 18, 2018

This is fun, but it turns Boris's doomsday neurotic rants into mere cartoon caterwauling. Levant, who never got a happy ending, would no doubt sneer.

| Feb 6, 2018

Woody Allen is always exploring new avenues. While Whatever Works isn't close to his best films, it is far better than most of the current crop of romantic comedies, most of which are schlock.

| Jan 17, 2018

[Whatever Works] has defenses built into it.

| Aug 23, 2017

As a committed Allenphile who once dressed like Annie Hall and longed to be Hannah's sister, I've loved all of Woody's work and his latest is no exception.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 23, 2017

There's just no real soul to Boris, no hint of the mania behind his crazed, neurotic worldview, no inherent and implied backstory that a skilled actor can provide. David is game and does his best, but let's call this what it is: Stunt casting.

| Original Score: C | Jun 22, 2013

This gleefully ironic comic fable feels different in tone from the likes of Vicky Christina Barcelona and Match Point. Woody has dusted off an old screenplay from the early 1970s that he'd originally written for Zero Mostel, shelved when the star died.

| Jul 30, 2012

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 4, 2011

Whatever works está llena de momentos geniales y divertidos, pero también de cierta humanidad en sus personajes que suele ser disfrazada de sarcasmo. Un verdadero show de Larry David, gentileza de Woody Allen.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 16, 2011

Woody Allen's comedy doesn't work- on any level.

| Original Score: 2.0 | Dec 29, 2010

People cynically walk into so much expecting disappointment - auditoriums showing Woody Allen's annual crapshoot, for example. Sometimes, they get expected middling results. Sometimes, as with Allen's 30-year-old script, they get unanticipated surprises.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 2, 2010

The heart of the film belongs to Wood, Clarkson and Begley Jr., and they provide the biggest laughs. Watching their Southern-charm slowly transformed (corrupted?) by the emotional/artistic/erotic flavours of New York City is a typical Allen-esque treat.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 27, 2010

It is impossible to detach Woody Allen's decline, notwithstanding its individual twists and turns, from the general fate of considerable numbers of quasi-cultured, semi-bohemian, once-liberal, upper middle class New Yorkers in particular.

| Jul 6, 2010