WHATEVER WORKS(12A, 91 mins) **** Starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr, Henry Cavill We go to the cinema to forget: the bills that need paying, the romance that has suddenly hit the buffers or the everyday stresses of our seemingly-insignificant lives.

For an hour, maybe even two, we sit motionless in the dark and we lose ourselves in fantastical, dangerous or strangely familiar worlds with people of all shape and sizes, who make us laugh, cry and occasionally swoon.

Sometimes, these people actively invite us in (Alfie, Ferris Bueller) and that’s the case in Whatever Works, a pithy romantic comedy from director Woody Allen, which allows the leading protagonist to address us directly as silent confidants.

“Who’re you talking to?” asks a confused friend, who only sees his buddy talking to thin air.

“What are you, an imbecile?” retorts the central character. “There’s an audience out there watching us!”

We are in on the joke from the start and there are plenty of laughs in Allen’s best film since his disastrous sojourn to London and the triple whammy of Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream.

The writer-director returns to the streets of his beloved New York – the home of ageing curmudgeon, Boris Yellnikoff (David).

“I’m not a likeable guy, charm has never been a priority to me,” he confesses. “If you want feelgood, go get a foot massage.”

In a rare and uncharacteristic moment of compassion, Boris allows pretty runaway Melodie St Ann Celestine (Wood) from Mississippi to spend the night on his couch rather than sleep rough on the streets.

One night turns into one week and then one month as friendship blossoms between Boris and his perky new housemate.

Companionship becomes genuine affection and Melodie gradually reshapes her views on the world to mimic Boris. They marry.

Then her parents Marietta (Clarkson) and John (Begley Jr) turn up on Boris’s doorstep and throw the couple’s routine into disarray.

Marietta feels her daughter should find love with someone younger and she sets about playing Cupid between Melodie and handsome suitor, Randy James (Cavill).

Whatever Works is consistently funny, returning to Annie Hall territory as Allen once again dissects the emotional bonds between the sexes.

David looks like he has just stepped off the set of TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm and is still in character, while Wood accentuates Melodie’s naivete, which is exploited by the people around her.

Whatever Works works.