“Whatever Works” (2009)

Woody Allen’s 41st feature casts Larry David as a self-loathing New York Jew whose downward spiral of depression and probable suicide is arrested by an affair with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.  Both the themes and the scenario will be familiar to Allen fans - as much from the great auteur’s life as from his work - but David brings his own unique performance style to proceedings and the result plays like “Manhattan” crossed with “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

In a supporting cast rich in talent Evan Rachel Wood scores heavily as the only initially naive love interest Melody while Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr. get big laughs as her sexually adventurous parents.  Potentially corny conceits like having David address the camera directly work better than you might think and Woody can still write one-liners with the best of them.