Not only is Woody Allen’s new movie, “Whatever Works” set in Manhattan after half a decade’s work abroad; not only does it star Larry David as a kind of Bizzarro Woody Allen who yells rather than suffers; this article in New York magazine reveals a kind of fundamental, personal libertarianism on the part of Allen that I think informs all of his films;

“For (Larry David’s character) Boris, the only possible consolation for existential hopelessness is romance: “My story is, whatever works, as long as you don’t hurt anybody,” he says as the movie starts. When I ask Allen if the line represents the Weltanschauung of his thirtysomething or current self, he says his outlook hasn’t changed: “Yes, whatever works to get you through is fine, and not necessarily in relation to relationships. If it’s collecting stamps obsessively, or listening to ball scores, if you’re not encroaching on anyone else, then that’s what you have to do.”

HT to www.lewrockwell.com