Writer/director Woody Allen (“Match Point”) is a reluctant cynic. Although his worldview is bleak, he has sentimental streak that softens his edge considerably.

He sums up his personal philosophy with his latest film, “Whatever Works”: Anything that you can do to find a modicum of happiness in this life is okay…so long as you don’t hurt anyone.

As is usual with Allen’s films, when he doesn’t appear himself, he casts another actor in the part he would have filled. In this case, Larry David from TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” plays the surrogate Allen role.

David portrays Boris Yellnikoff, an antisocial New York intellectual who takes hubris to new heights. A former physicist who was once on the short list for a Nobel Prize, Boris is an unapologetic misanthrope who now teaches chess to Manhattan kids.

Convinced that humanity is a failed species, Boris considers most people to be “inchworms” who are simply beneath him. But Boris’ comfortably cloistered life gets a shakeup when he meets a hungry young runaway.

Evan Rachel Wood (“Across the Universe”) plays Melody, a Mississippi teenager who talks Boris into providing her with some temporary shelter. Boris is appalled by her ignorance, but reluctantly takes pity on her.

As you might have guessed (this is a Woody Allen movie, after all), an unlikely May-December romance develops between these polar opposites. Boris provides Melody with some exposure to intellectual challenges and Melody gives Boris some lessons in warm-hearted optimism.

As usual, Allen gets good work from his carefully selected cast. David is appropriately sardonic and Wood is very appealing even though her Southern accent sometimes sounds like it comes from a road company of “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Patricia Clarkson (“Elegy”) and Ed Begley, Jr. (“Pineapple Express”) show up as Melody’s yokel parents who travel to Manhattan to rescue their daughter. They find that life in The Big Apple changes them in ways they could never have imagined.

If the story seems somewhat dated, that may be because the script for “Whatever Works” has been languishing in Allen’s drawer since the 1970s. His efforts to update it with references to President Obama are only partially successful.

Allen’s dialogue is often quite funny helping to temper some of the obvious and calculated elements of the plot.

While not in the same league as his recent and more mature work like “Vicky Christina Barcelona”, “Whatever Works” is an amusing cinematic trifle from an old softie. (PG-13) Rating: ***

* Avoid at all costs
** Only if you're bored
*** Good movie
**** Well worth your time
***** Be sure to see it