Larry David in Whatever Works
In Theaters June 19
Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) is a sixtysomething genius, quantum mechanics division, who more or less enjoys stewing in his own bile; the world never stops providing him with reasons to find fault with it. Latest example: Melody St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), a naive Mississippian who washed up in New York City. Their odd, endearing relationship is at the core of Woody Allen's romantic comedy — his finest, fullest movie in ages, thanks in large part to David's tart yet warming misanthropy. Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley, Jr., play Wood's parents, two other southern renegades touched by the core belief of Allen's secular religion: Manhattan magic.
TIME's 100 Most Influential People: Did Your Pick Make the Cut?