I plumb forgot all about Woody Allen teaming up with the god that is Larry David until I caught a snippet of the first released footage from it following the Oscars last night. There is nothing describing Whatever Works, which opens up on June 19, on its IMDb page, but from its wiki page:
[Evan Rachel] Wood plays the naïve young wife of Larry David’s Ebenezer Scrooge-like character. The film is a dark comedy starring Larry David as an eccentric man from Greenwich Village who gets caught up in a series of love stories which get him in tangled up with a young girl from the south (Wood) and her parents. The movie was filmed in New York City, marking Allen’s return to that city after a four-film sojourn to Europe. “It’s very classic Woody Allen but it’s still different than anything he’s done,” revealed Evan Rachel Wood in a December 2008 interview.
Oh, baby. This is going to be wild!
And, of course, ever the workaholic, Woody will soon be getting to work on another film, which is still untitled. According to Variety, the film will be produced by Spain-based company Mediapro (so another visit to Spain for Mr. Allen and Co.?) and will star Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, and Anthony Hopkins.
Over 70 years old and still at the top of his game. I love you, Woody, but give us another Vicky Cristina Barcelona or Cassandra’s Dream with these next two and not Scoop.
What do you ladies and gentleman think of a Woody/Larry team-up? Questionable or an unarguable recipe for success?
@ “It’s very classic Woody Allen but it’s still different than anything he’s done,”
Do you not recognize empty bullshit when you hear it?
That is indeed a pretty funny (and quite silly) quote.
All I remember are the very creepy pictures of Larry David when this film was shooting:
http://www.firstshowing.net/img/wood-david-Allen-FL-01.jpg
Creepy? That photo is great!
Kurt I am lending you the first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, that you have not watched it yet is a crime against nature.
Lol. Agreed. Curb is my second favorite show on TV.
Sounds interesting! Woody needs to make another movie like Radio Days.
Woody needs to make another movie like his 70′s stuff. I wonder if he has it in him.
woody allen. larry david. what a combo.
if only penelope cruz were in this too!
Curb is one of my favorites and of course Seinfeld rules. How will Larry David transfer to the big screen with someone as prolific as Allen directing him? Also I assume someone else wrote this screenplay. So this is my first experience with Larry David actually acting and being directed – not just playing himself.
true, especially since Curb relies so much on improv. now there will be an actual script. Larry David would feel more comfortable working with Judd Apatow probably.
but Woody is an actor’s director. he seems to bring the best out in everyone. i have the utmost faith that Larry David will crossover and do it well.
Larry David is comedic gold. Woody Allen is giving him another opportunity for him to show us what he can do, but it’s all Larry. All Larry, all the time.
Larry. Is. God.
Ok time to rank Curb episodes…
my favorite probably remains
“the doll” Generally, much like Seinfeld, the multiple story threads would shoe-horned together into some final punchline, and you have to accept that as part of how the show works or not… but this punchline is effortlessly arrived at and is the funniest moment of any of the seasons.
I’m thinking its season 2
Don’t know about my favorite, but I’ve never laughed as hard as the night the restaurant opened with the “special” chef.
RIMJOB!
I would be stoked if Woody Allen could make a good film – he hasn’t done so since the 1970s, but I suppose we can still hope.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona was, in my mind, the Spanish American Beauty – which is far from a compliment. The film was dull and boring, and the characters were bland, pretentious, and simply unlikeable. There was nothing redeeming about it.
I have to disagree with every single thing you wrote there Domenic. Like Kurt, several recent to not-so-recent Allen flicks have been well written and entertaining. I think Match Point may be the pinnacle. It was the first Woody Allen movie I watched and LOVED. Also, no love for Crimes and Misdemeanors, Manhattan Murder Mystery or Hannah and her Sisters (the latter I have not actually seen admittedly)?
As for the second comment about VCB, to each his own I guess, but the thing that works the best in that movie is the interesting characters. I didn’t find them unlikable (not in a Boleyn Girl, Margot at the Wedding kind of way) at all. Pretentious and crazy, yes. Loathsome, no.
You know. I liked Bullets over Broadway and Deconstructing Harry (90s). As well as Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona (no they are not ‘CLASSICS’ or anything by far, but they are solid flicks.)
I’ve not seen Sweet & Lowdown, but that film gets credit too and it is not that old.
I think this is an “agree to disagree” situation. It has been my experience that people like or dislike Woody Allen – I seem to be a rarity, in that I very much enjoy Allen’s earlier films, yet don’t like anything since the 1970s. I feel all alone in the middle ground.
I have not seen Crimes and Misdemeanors, but I have seen (and disliked) everything else mentioned thus far.
Cassandra’s Dream was my breaking point, I do not intend on seeing any of Allen’s future projects after that debacle. And while Match Point was pretty good, it was a rehash of things he has already done and a rehash of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment which he has already rehashed.
I agree with Domenic, I’m sticking with the younger more ambitious Woody
His last great film was Sweet and Lowdown.
Well, I think that Woody Allen’s decision to turn out one film a year, every year when he is doing his own writing, is largely responsible for the wild variation of quality. If he took more time to hone his screenplays and characters (maybe a film every 18 months to two years instead), the quality/ambition may return. As it stands, that looks highly unlikely.
These days, he seems to simply want to make pictures around the world with young and beautiful actresses. Can’t fault him for that. He’s earned the right to make simple care-free films, even though obviously people want more Manhattan/Purple Rose of Cairo/Crimes&Misdemeanors type films.
For what it’s worth, Stardust Memories was the last Allen flick I truly enjoyed, and even that was a great step down from his peak (Annie Hall, Sleepers, Manhattan, Interiors, and Love & Death).
Husbands and Wives and September are both post 70′s and really good.
I’m watching this right now. It is definitely typical Woody Allen with Larry David playing a character that would probably otherwise be suited for Woody himself. I like it so far (half way through), but it isn’t spectacular by any means.