Consumer advice

I’m obliged to offer a consumer’s report on two pieces of product that you might consider taking in.  There are reasons to look at each, if that sort of thing suits your taste, but I cannot advise you to watch either.  The first I liked more than the less-than-tepid critical consensus, and the second less than generally lukewarm reviews.

Whatever Works.  (2009, dvd, MC-45)  Woody Allen continues to churn out a film a year, long past the time he had anything new to say.  Some people thought he was rejuvenated by making films in Europe, others are glad he is back on the home turf of Manhattan.  Apparently, this is a script he wrote thirty years ago for Zero Mostel, but in Larry David he finds the right actor to step into his own well-worn persona of cranky neurotic, which has reduced the likes of Kenneth Branagh to gross caricature.  The role meshes with David’s  “Curb Your Enthusiasm” persona in an interesting way, as when two headshots merge into a spooky composite.  For once a different old guy lands the sweet young thing.  And make no mistake, Evan Rachel Wood is a sweet young thang.  More than that, she brings some substance to a role that is the essence of caricature, the brainless Dixie cheerleader who meets cute and falls for the curmudgeonly retired physics professor with an exaggeratedly acerbic outlook on life and death.  It’s all very familiar, from the credits to the music, from the setting to the themes, but I found enough in it to enjoy for its modest duration.

On the other hand, if it weren’t for the earned-elsewhere affection I feel for its three leads, I would have found It’s Complicated  (2009, dvd, MC-57) unbearable.  I haven’t disliked all of Nancy Meyers’ films, but this one struck me as utterly manufactured, an assembly-line product given a false sheen by the presence of Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin.  There are a few other amusing faces given little to do, but Meyers’ wooden (but light and brittle – like balsa) writing and direction undermines them all.  Managing to combine elements of house porn, food porn, and menopausal porn, this film embarrassed more than stimulated me.  I doubt there was a moment of truth in it.  Still love Meryl, Alec, and Steve, however.