Son Of Lubitsch

Here's a line from A. O. Scott's thumbs down on Woody Allen's latest, Whatever Works.

A less generous word might be sloppy, given the near-total absence of the kind of Lubitschean verve of which Mr. Allen, when he’s on his comic game, is capable.

Lubitschean verve?

As I've stated before, so many critics throw around the names of old directors as touchstones, but don't seem to be able to tell a Frank Capra from a Preston Sturges.

Lubitsch was a great comedy director, no question. And he had verve, no doubt. It was part of his celebrated "touch." But Woody Allen is nothing like him.

Lubitsch was controlled, refined and indirect. Allen, coming out of stand-up, started out rough in style and worked straight to the camera. In later films, even as his technique gets more elegant, or at least artier, the dialogue became more improvised, while Lubitsch's films were rehearsed to within an inch of their life.

Maybe Billy Wilder, who wrote for and adored Lubitsch, followed somewhat in his tradition, though Wilder didn't have the lightness of touch. Woody's early comedies, if I'd compare them to anything, are like Marx Brothers films (to name a group who shared the Paramount lot with Lubitsch)--wild and smart. His later comedies, if they're like any old Hollywood filmmaker's (and they're not) are more like, say, Gregory La Cava's, or Leo McCarey's, in that they have a loose, almost improvisational feeling. But I guess A. O. Scott didn't feel like writing "La Cavean verve."