Whatever Works — May/December romances happen all the time in the movies, but they’re trickier to pull off in real life. If you’ve gone a little gray in the beard, and you’re not wealthy or famous, the odds are stacked against you winning over that cute sorority chick at the local watering hole. If you’re looking to step up your game, certainly there’s no greater authority on the subject than Woody Allen, who has explored this territory in films ranging from Manhattan to Hollywood Ending (and to more squirm-inducing effect in his personal life, but let’s not even go there). He does it again in his latest effort, Whatever Works, although thankfully the Woodman has not cast himself as the older man this time around. Rather, it’s Larry David (nearly a dozen years younger than Allen at a sprightly sixty-one) taking on the role of misanthropic physicist Boris Yellnikov, who romances the age-inappropriate Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood). Honestly, seeing this movie probably won’t improve your success rate with the Hills demographic, but at least you’ll have a few laughs along the way.

Year One — If most of your nights out on the town end with your date calling you a Neanderthal… well, why not make that work for you? Despite what you see in the Geico ads, there are women that enjoy the company of cavemen, and you’ll probably find one of them at a showing of this Stone Age comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera.

The Proposal — Spice up your marriage of convenience with the latest product from the Sandra Bullock romantic-comedy assembly line. In this one, Bullock plays a Canadian-born executive whose U.S. visa is about to be yanked unless her hunky young assistant (Ryan Reynolds) agrees to marry her.

Food, Inc. — This documentary from Robert Kenner casts a critical eye on the food industry, from the gutting of its regulatory oversight to the cruel conditions of its overcrowded feedlots to the rampant proliferation of E. coli bacteria. Not recommended for dinner-and-a-movie night.

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