Whatever Works

You'd think Allen (in his 42nd film) would get tired of trotting out the same old obsessions and characters, although the script is allegedly recycled from the 1970s. Allen's protagonist is even more mopey, misanthropic, and ridiculous than usual: aging New Yorker Boris (David), a self-proclaimed scientific genius, who upends his uptown life and moves into a dingy apartment near Chinatown. A chance meeting with beautiful young southern runaway Melody (Wood) leads to an odd relationship (and then marriage) until her repressed, conservative parents (Clarkson, Begley Jr.) show up and there are further extreme character transformations.