Woody Allen´s Whatever Works

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAgp2Bgrl0g
(trailer)

In the 24 hours preceding the trip to the Verdi cinema in Gracia, (http://www.cines-verdi.com/)  no less than 3 very reliable sources recommended Woody Allen´s Whatever Works, so it being a Monday evening (ie: cheap night at VO - Version Original - cinemas), me being a moderate Woody Allen fan (ie, the early stuff, and Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona, though I have to admit that it was Barcelona, and Penelope Cruz that lured me to the latter) and the boyfriend being a full-on, Woody-Allen-is-God, off the scale fan, we decided to kill the couple of hours before going to watch a friend DJ in a bar in the Raval watching his latest offering.

Before I tackle the film, let me dedicate some space to the Verdi cinema, which is a bit of a movie buff´s must-stop in this city. As I said in the opening sentence, it´s up in Gracia, one of the city´s more happening barrios, and screens films in their original language - which is a bit of a relief. (Whilst I love Spanish cinema, and am happy to sit through a two hour film in a language I so far only have a basic knowledge of,  I´m not a big fan of dubbing, especially in Spanish, which - sorry compañeros - is not done too well). It´s a bit basic, but the seats are comfortable and the screen is high up, so there´s no risk of your view being marred by the tallest person in Spain sitting in front of you. This is helped by a dip in the ground in the centre of the auditorium - something which I´d never seen before, and at first  thought was one of those Spanish peculiarities, but which made perfect sense once the boyfriend explained it to me (Don´t ask me to repeat what he said though, because it´s complicated).  At 5€ on a Monday night, it certainly makes for a cheap night out (A few weeks ago I paid 12GBP to watch The September Issue at the Curzon Mayfair in London).


And now to the movie. As I said, I´m a fan of the early Woody Allen, that is, of films set in New York and that deals with people´s (ie, Allen´s) neuroses - so actually I´m more early to middle period Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, etc), so having read in the film notes provided at the entrance (another of the Verdi´s pluses) that it was one of those, together with the recommendations, my expectations were high. I wasn´t disappointed. I found it very funny,  full of some superb lines (which I wish I could remember), and all in all a welcome return to form following a few duds. OK, so  Larry David´s performance as the misanthrope Boris Yelnikoff is a little bit clunky, but the script is so good, that it´s almost ignorable. Plus, once Patricia Clarkson as his, er, unlikely mother-in-law, appears on screen, everyone else pales into insignficance ... except for the drop-dead handsome Henry Cavill, who I´d never seen before, but would certainly like to see more often!

If I had to give a rating, this would definitely get a four, possibly even a bit more.