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June 22, 2009 | 3:25 pm
Allen David Stern
Posted by Rob Eshman
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I went to see Woody Allen’s movie “Whatever Works” yesterday, watching Larry David do Woody Allen on screen.
Only Richard Corliss in Time magazine got it right. This is a terrific movie. Kenny Turan at The LA Times, Anthony Lane in The New Yorker, the guy in The New York Times, especially Benjamin Ivry in The Forward— they should apologize for their reviews of this movie. The audience applauded at the end. At the screen. They knew no one up there could hear them, and they still troubled themselves to clap. Believe me, that wasn’t happening over at “The Proposal.”
So go see it. And if you’re a Stern fan, you’ll sit there and be struck at how much the David/Allen character reminds you of Howard. It could only have been more perfect if Woody had named the character Allen David Stern.
Woody Allen. Larry David. Howard Stern. Allen David Stern.
They are, when you think about it, one man.
Sons of battered immigrants, marinated in mother guilt, fascinated and fearful of the outside world, sickly ambitious and hence resolutely disciplined and productive, heavily therapized, prone to anhedonia …
…And funny as shit.
It always bothered me when Stern railed against Woody Allen. It felt like the folks were fighting. That was back when Allen left Mia Farrow for her step-daughter (CORRECTION: adopted daughter) Soon Yi. I got the sense Stern was not just legitimately outraged by Allen’s behavior, but that he was personally friendly with Farrow (Stern-the-professional clearly has a web of personal entertainment industry connections that play into how Stern-the-entertainer reacts on air.)
To me, it felt like fratricide, like the scene in Avalon when the two uncles couldn’t sit at the same table (“YOU CUT THE TURKEY!!!”) After all, Stern and Allen are two men who couldn’t be more similar in their backgrounds, their humor, their brilliant use of satire, and their impact on the larger culture. Then comes Larry David, the third musketeer. Call them the latter day Marx Brothers, except they’re not Groucho, Harpo and Chico,they’re Groucho, Groucho and Groucho. They’re not the Three Stooges, they’re Moe, Moe, and Moe.
Like Groucho and Moe, they’re the big brothers, the leaders, the ones who at the end of the day need only their brains, words and wit. Each of them is, as Larry David’s character in Whatever Works says, “a man with a huge worldview.”
It’s the worldview of the eternal outsider, no matter how much fame and money and critical success they achieve. It’s how come on today’s show, when Howard was interviewing Lydia Hearst, the model/actress/heiress to the Hearst fortune, and he asks her what kind of provisions her parents have set out in her trust fund, he quickly adds, “Obviously, no Jews, right?”
That’s the humor of someone who no matter how much they’ve arrived, will never fully feel like he’s arrived.
Thank God.
And thank God for our culture Allen David Stern has a son, and his name is Sasha Barron Cohen.
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I have no idea why Howard Stern would be angry at Woody Allen - I like Howard and I like Woody - I don’t get it. But one thing is clear here which needs correction: Soon-Yi was never Woody’s step-daughter, and if Howard was misinformed about this, perhaps you should tell him. I like Howard, I think he’s a decent guy, and despite all the crap that is said about Woody because of Mia’s vitriol, Woody is a decent guy as well. As Woody said, “the heart wants what it wants” - and Mia is no stranger to this - she stole Andre Previn from his wife Dory while she was in the hospital, so she is hardly a moral compass here. As Soon-Yi once said, “Mia is no Mother Theresa” - and she said that years before all of this Darfur business which seems to preoccupy her life now.
No idea why Stern wouldn’t approve of Allen and Soon Yi? Regardless of legally being a step-dad he cheated on her adoptive mom with her, forever splitting them. He was the step-dad to 2 of her siblings and biological dad to another. He took nude photos of her, he left laying around. He knew her since she was 7. It was inconclusive if Allen sexually abused another, younger adopted daughter. You want Allen to get off on a technicality but Stern doesn’t work that way.
I did make a mistake and will correct it. Soon Yi was not legally Allen’s step-daughter.
I had not seen this note, but now I have a very high opinion of Rob Eshman (I am new around here and never read him before, I wonder whether this is a blog of him and where can I read more from him).
Whatever Works was a terrific movie indeed. Funny and powerful. I saw it yesterday, for the second time, almost a year after I had seen it in cinema.
I laughed as much and was touched and intrigued by it almost as much as I did when I saw it for the first time. This means a lot to me.
The only review that I have read is from Anthony Lane or should I say Anthony Lame. It was a poor and mean-spirited review.
As for Howard Stern, I love the guy, but his views on this do not affect me. Surprisingly enough, this movie is so much about him as well that I am inclined to believe that he felt personally hurt by it. I am sure he will come around in a few years and recognize Whatever Works for the cinematographic gem that it is.