Woody Allen wrote WHATEVER WORKS for Zero Mostel at the height of his powers in the Annie Hall '70s, and we owe the film's modern incarnation to the director's fear of a SAG strike last year--that, and to Mostel's untimely death in 1977.

Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David steps bravely into the great comic's shoes and aside from a thrown-in reference to Obama, it's pretty much the fascinating time capsule it should be. David plays ex-quantum mechanic Boris Yellnikoff, a wracked pessimist who's become a recluse in lower-Manhattan's Chinatown, dealing misanthropic truth-doses to any and all who'll listen. Wife, friends, even his young chess students begin to tire of the constant insults and entropic death banter. When a waifish Mississippi belle turns up at his doorstep hungry and desperate, Boris takes her in on a strictly temporary basis--until a day-trip to Grant's Tomb together hints at something more.

David's ranting Yellnikoff has all the emotional range of a tuning fork, which is kind of the point: As he warns us through the fourth wall early on, "This is not the feel-good movie of the year...so if you're one of those idiots who needs to feel good, go get yourself a foot massage."

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