Whatever Works

“A new comedy!”

Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) is a crotchety misanthrope in present-day New York, holding forth to his friends, including Joe (Michael McKean), on how doomed everyone is. Then Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), a naïve young runaway from the South, turns up and stays, and her uptight parents follow to bring her home. Woody Allen writes and directs it as a stage-bound comedy, with Boris turning to the camera to argue his case.