I like Larry David. Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm have been ground-breaking in their style and content. Woody Allen has to be respected as a writer and film maker even if his more recent works are not my cup of tea. So, I was hopeful when this film was showing in my area. Larry David plays a miserable older man and that should be right up his alley. Allen wrote the script and he has a lot to say. David says every word and it seems he’s rushing to get every syllable out of his mouth. David is not a great actor. He is a writer and former stand-up comedian. His character is quickly seen as one dimensional and the performance lacks any life. You seem to be watching Larry David reading the lines of Woody Allen. Then we come to the content of the movie. Allen appears to be obsessed with older men and young girls. Weird huh? He kow-tows to various liberal Hollywood cliches where conservative church going women ‘find’ themselves and enjoy threesomes and the stuffy husband and NRA member discovers his latent homosexuality. Maybe this would have been clever 30 years ago, but it seems tired for 2009. I usually like dark and cynical humor, but it just goes on and on in this film. Allen appears to be advocating a type of hedonistic nihilism for his characters. Happiness is found by doing whatever works at the moment to relieve the misery of life and that is usually some form of sexual expression. If you are a fan of Woody Allen and his style of writing, directing and film making, then this movie might work for you. Whatever Works didn’t really work for me.