"This is not the feel good movie of the year," says the curmudgeonly Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) early on in the new trailer for Woody Allen's Whatever Works. Indeed it isn't. It is chock full of clever one-liners though -- and an extra helping of irony.
At its center is the romantic entanglement between the 60-something New Yorker Boris and a cheerfully naive 21-year-old girl from the south (Evan Rachel Wood), an unlikely pairing that mirrors Allen's own scandalous relationship with Mia Farrow's adoptive daughter. Not so surprising perhaps, except for the fact that Allen penned the script for the movie more than 30 years ago, long before the scandal -- so long ago, in fact, that he originally had the late Zero Mostel in mind for the role of Boris.
From what we can see in the trailer, it does seem like classic Allen though, with his philosophy of life front and center: praying for forgiveness does you no good, so you might as well try whatever works. And enjoy the laughs along the way.