Okay, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Fans...WHATEVER WORKS (DVD; Sony Pictures Classics)

Mike LoManaco

Studio Name: Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc/Transfer Information: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Tested Audio Track: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Woody Allen
Starring Cast: Larry David, Patricia Clarkson



LoMANACO'S PLOT ANALYSIS:

Those of you smitten with the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm starring Seinfeld co-creator Larry David (as I am) will undoubtedly think this under-the-radar Woody Allen project, put out by independent-film-like Sony Classic Pictures, will be a wall to wall exhibition of David’s anti-social antics from the show. And believe you me – all Curb fans will go into watching this with that exact sentiment. The result was less than stellar, the problem, of course, being that everyone viewing Whatever Works simply sees David’s character in Curb up on that screen, leaving much to be desired from his overall “acting” abilities.

Let me back up a bit. I have been an absolute diehard fan of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm since its launch, and have turned countless friends, relatives, significant others and now my wife onto the show, many of whom initially didn’t have the patience to even sit through one half-hour episode nor couldn’t grasp what the whole thing was about. Seinfeld brainchild Larry David plays himself in the show, which documents days in the life of a carefree, but socially confused New Yorker-turned-Hollywood-writer that has so much money and free time, he ends up fighting with everyone he comes in contact with in order to figure out why people do what they do, and why people say what they say – you really need to “get” his character to understand Curb (which I totally do) but in each successive season of the show, his antics and shenanigans get wilder and wilder. In the show’s current season, Larry is living without his sexy-for-her-age wife, Cheryl (played by Cheryl Hines) and has begun dating girls in wheelchairs after his relationship with Vivica A. Fox came to a halt once he discovered her character has cancer. You really need to see the show from the first season to “get” Larry, but if you can relate to his character – you’ll be hooked.

Apparently attempting to cash in on the success and media excitement revolving around Curb right now, director Woody Allen returns from a hiatus of sorts to introduce Larry David into his “Jewish social drama” he’s so well known for, and on paper, it would appear to be a perfect match what with David’s “kosher heritage” that’s exploited weekly on Curb. I hadn’t heard about this film until the trailer was on a rental I had some time ago, but being a diehard Curb fan, I had to see it. As with other Sony Classic Pictures projects a la Rachel Getting Married, Whatever Works plays like a typical dry, art house independent film devoid of any real substance, in my opinion, or comedy; you can definitely tell it’s Allen behind the cameras, as his style is all over the place – such as David’s stopping throughout the film to “talk” to the audience and give a personal perspective on what’s happening onscreen. But what was hailed as a Woody Allen comedy starring Larry David which should have been side-splitting, the film was simply boring and cemented the fact that David should stick with Curb for now instead of stretching his feature film acting wings.

Whatever Works opens with David’s limping character “Boris” sitting at a New York outdoor caf

Mike LoManaco

WHATEVER WORKS REVIEW CONTINUED...

VIDEO QUALITY ANALYSIS:

Upscaled to 1080p by way of my Blu-ray player, Whatever Works just didn't look that good on DVD. Taking my player's subpar scaling abilities out of the equation for a moment, the transfer was plagued by edge enhancement galore and compression artifacts and noise in the background of almost every sequence. Flesh tones appeared pinkish, while colors exhibited undersaturated appearances save for some Central Park and outdoor New York shots. I noticed some additional macroblocking in dark sequences as well, but this wasn't the worst DVD transfer I've ever experienced -- I'll leave that to HBO Video's The Hitcher.


AUDIO QUALITY ANALYSIS:

Sony loaded Whatever Works with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but there was nothing significant going on here, without surprise. At any rate, Whatever Works is actually a departure from Woody Allen’s usual choice of audio encoding for his films, which is almost always one-channel Mono, yet the whole track remains up front with no surround ambience at all. There is some minor spread to the front main channels but in this dialogue-driven film, the soundtrack remains center-focused without much else to work with. There will be nothing for your subwoofer to do but idle during the playback of this disc, so let it sleep and prepare it to wake up when you drop Live Free or Die Hard into the tray.


SUMMARY:

I can applaud Woody Allen for doing what he did – trying to cash in on Larry David’s fiery success playing “himself” in HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm by placing him in a little independent film steeped in his Jewish heritage and environments of New York. But the end result simply wasn’t funny, entertaining or enlightening in any way, save for the aforementioned fate element that I think everyone can relate to.

If you’re a Curb fan, go ahead and rent it if just for curiosity, but you won’t be able to help just seeing David in his self-portrayed role on his HBO show as he attempts to “act” in this one; it’s like he’s just trying too hard to shed the Larry David stigma as he moves through his lines in this film, much like James Gandolfini did in The Last Castle after everyone saw him for years as Tony Soprano.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stick to Curb Your Enthusiasm – it’ll be all the Larry David you can handle.