Hope for a Failed Species

“Whatever Works”

As humans, are we a race of greedy, self-serving morons hopelessly destined for an unceremonious demise brought about by our own witless, self-destructive impulses? Or are we a species capable of ushering in a future brimming with promise and potential for a more harmonious and compassionate world? According to the new Woody Allen comedy “Whatever Works,” the answer, in both cases, is “yes.”

“Whatever Works” tells the story of Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), an aging, curmudgeonly, egotistical, condescending Gothamite whose disillusionment with life and contempt for humanity would make even the most jaded cynic look like an apple-cheeked pollyanna. Having experienced failure in virtually every aspect of life—marriage, career, even a suicide attempt—he now spends his days bellowing incessantly about the woeful state of mankind, berating virtually everyone around him and boasting that he is one of the few who is wise enough to see the big picture about man’s inevitable slide into decay as “a failed species.” Boris sees life as a struggle to get by, wherein each of us does “whatever works” just to get through the day. (How’d you like to be sitting next to him on a plane?)

Things take a surprising turn one night, however, when Boris meets Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), a perky, young, dimwitted former beauty queen who has run away from her dysfunctional fundamentalist family in Louisiana. Even though she’s Boris’s emotional opposite and intellectual inferior many times over, Melodie touches something in Boris in a way that few others have. They quickly wind up living together and eventually marrying. As time passes, the interaction between the couple leads to internal changes that slowly surface in each of them (periodic backslides in character notwithstanding), and this process accelerates when Melodie’s parents, Marietta (Patricia Clarkson) and John (Ed Begley Jr.), show up unannounced in search of their long-lost baby. Changes abound for Boris and Melodie, as well as for the new arrivals, through their involvement with one another, with a pair of Boris’s acquaintances (Conleth Hill, Olek Krupa) and with a trio of outsiders (Henry Cavill, Christopher Evan Welch, Jessica Hecht). Outlooks shift, and, before long, all of the cards become shuffled in seemingly unforeseen ways. In the end, our hero’s “whatever works” philosophy comes to rule the day but in beautifully unpredictable ways no one expects, himself included.

From a conscious creation/law of attraction standpoint, this picture is an excellent exploration of probability principles. In particular, the film is at its strongest in its razor-sharp depiction of the range of probabilities open to us as practitioners of this philosophy.

Since conscious creation maintains that we all have an infinite range of options open to us at any given time, the only true limitations we have are the beliefs we hold and the choices we make. In the spirit of that notion, this movie provides an excellent example of how we can employ that idea in our lives and, in turn, a clear illustration of how (and why) we end up with the results we get.

Probability principles are reinforced in symbolic ways in the film, too. For example, we’re told that Boris’s former career was as a quantum physicist, one who investigates the science of possibility, an issue central to the picture’s story line. Admittedly, it’s a bit puzzling that Boris would willingly choose to adopt such a dour view of life, since, theoretically speaking, based on his professional calling, he should be aware of the unlimited range of probabilities open to him. However, his selection of such a negative worldview also gives validity to this particular expression of existence, one that’s ultimately just as viable as any other in conscious creation (unpalatable though it may be to many of us). Therein lie the essence—and the beauty—of the role of freedom of choice in conscious creation, a critical aspect of the process that we should never lose sight of and an integral message of the film.

I must admit I had some apprehensions about this movie going in. Having seen the trailers, I was concerned that this picture might be little more than an extended episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, David’s long-running HBO comedy series. And the first half-hour indeed is somewhat like that, with the protagonist’s over-the-top screeds becoming tiresome rather quickly. I also found the film’s on-camera first-person narration a bit tedious at times, especially in the beginning. But as the story progresses, as additional characters and different themes are introduced, the film becomes much more engaging and enjoyable. If you can stick out the first 30 minutes, you may find yourself warming up to the picture like I did.

I can’t say that this movie offers any particularly earth-shattering new insights that we haven’t seen before. Director Woody Allen has explored many of these ideas and scenarios in earlier titles with better characters, performances, stories and writing (especially when it comes to one-liners). However, the one achievement this film accomplishes better than its predecessors is that it clearly delineates the difference between appealing and objectionable probabilities and the role that each of us plays in determining how we end up in one or the other. This theme has been present in many of Allen’s earlier pictures, but this film unquestionably knocks it out of the park. While a delineation such as this may seem obvious to seasoned conscious creation practitioners, those who are new to, or less experienced with, the philosophy may find the movie’s directness on this point a shining example of what to do, or what not to do, with one’s beliefs and choices.

It’s encouraging to see that, despite all the strife and despair we’ve created in our world, it just might be possible to get things right in the end. We need to make sure, however, that we hold the beliefs and make the choices that allow suitable manifestations to materialize.

Maybe there’s hope for this failed species yet.

(“Whatever Works”—2009; Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Henry Cavill, Conleth Hill, Olek Krupa, Christopher Evan Welch, Jessica Hecht, Michael McKean, Carolyn McCormick; Woody Allen, director; Woody Allen, screenplay)