Whatever Works (2009)
Boris Yelnikoff is a cynical chess teacher and former Columbia quantum mechanics professor. Divorced, he avoids most people and, except for three friends and his students, is patronizing to everyone he meets, who doesn’t match him intellectually. He also spends much of the film washing his hands, while singing the song, “Happy Birthday”. Boris comes home one night to find Melody, a simpleminded, 21-year-old, on his doorstep. He reluctantly helps her, and she soon tells him her story. Melody turns out to have a distinctly Southern background, with fundamentalist parents in Mississippi, and she’s run away from them. She asks if she can stay the night, to which Boris eventually allows. While staying with Boris, Melody develops a crush on him, despite their age difference, varying cultures and intelligence.
Melody soon finds a job as a dog walker, where she meets Perry Singleton and they arrange a date. When she comes back home afterwards, she explains to Boris, she didn’t like Perry because he loved the world too much; and Boris realizes that he’s in love with her and they soon marry. A year later, Melody’s mother, Marietta, finds Melody, explaining that she and her husband, John, thought Melody had been kidnapped. She goes on to tell her that John left her and sold their house after John lost money in the stock market. She meets Boris and is disappointed with him, so she tries to persuade Melody to end the marriage. The three go for lunch and meets Boris’s friend, Leo.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Larry DavidBoris  Patricia ClarksonMarietta  Evan Rachel WoodMelody Celestine  Ed Begley Jr.John  Henry CavillRandy  Conleth HillBrockman  Michael McKeanBoris' Friend  John Gallagher Jr.Perry  Jessica HechtHelena |
Boris Yelnikoff is a cynical chess teacher and former Columbia quantum mechanics professor. Divorced, he avoids most people and, except for three friends and his students, is patronizing to everyone he meets, who doesn’t match him intellectually. He also spends much of the film washing his hands, while singing the song, “Happy Birthday”. Boris comes home one night to find Melody, a simpleminded, 21-year-old, on his doorstep. He reluctantly helps her, and she soon tells him her story. Melody turns out to have a distinctly Southern background, with fundamentalist parents in Mississippi, and she’s run away from them. She asks if she can stay the night, to which Boris eventually allows. While staying with Boris, Melody develops a crush on him, despite their age difference, varying cultures and intelligence.
Melody soon finds a job as a dog walker, where she meets Perry Singleton and they arrange a date. When she comes back home afterwards, she explains to Boris, she didn’t like Perry because he loved the world too much; and Boris realizes that he’s in love with her and they soon marry. A year later, Melody’s mother, Marietta, finds Melody, explaining that she and her husband, John, thought Melody had been kidnapped. She goes on to tell her that John left her and sold their house after John lost money in the stock market. She meets Boris and is disappointed with him, so she tries to persuade Melody to end the marriage. The three go for lunch and meets Boris’s friend, Leo.
