Review: Allen's `Whatever Works' not quite working

The title of Woody Allen's new comedy, "Whatever Works," might define what the filmmaker has been up to the last few years.

Allen churns out a movie a year like clockwork, some OK, some mediocre, none very memorable. Sure, last year's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" drew solid audiences, won Penelope Cruz an Academy Award and was a step or two above other recent Allen flicks.

But the movie was emblematic of his output of late _ slight plots, slighter characters, lackadaisical storytelling that recycles enough of the neuroses-fueled charm of his earlier films to keep the Woody Allen machine in business.

In other words, whatever …