Larry David's "Boris", An Enlightening Character

Who loves being complained to by a movie character for an hour and a half? Apparently me. Woody Allen's Whatever Works (2009) is far from what is considered to be a part of his classics, while still somehow being the most enjoyable for me of the four films of his I've seen. Please wait until after you read this blog post to shoot me.

There is something ironically enlightening about experiencing the cynical world views of Boris (Larry David), and this is partly due to David's delivery of his monologues. I was not previously familiar with his acting, but I was amused on many occasions by his shameless undertones and physical expression to go with it. One of my favorite rants involved Boris' views on sending kids away to summer camp, concluding that they should be sent to a concentration camp for two weeks "so they would finally understand what the human race is capable of."

Boris is hopelessly determined on the hopelessness of the human race. He's loud, pathetic, and offensive-- yet charming. I feel like every extremist human being should have someone like Boris in their life. Who knows what the outcome will be? Even a couple of wacky religious nuts can make a complete *spoiler alert* 180 turn to being an openly gay man, and a woman living in a "menajahtwa."


Whatever works, right? Even if many of Boris' views and inspirations go against your own personal morals (with me many certainly do), you still can't help but love the comical truth in much of it.



Photo sources:  http://www.everywoodyallenmovie.com/post/2000-2010-woody-allen-late-period/

http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.com/2012/05/woody-allens-curious-intellectualism.html

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/still/00005294/whatever_works10.html