Larry David helps Woody Allen (re)take Manhattan

The verdict is out on Woody Allen's return to New York. Whatever Works starring comedian Larry David is the director's first movie shot in Manhattan for five years and one of the first reviews says it is, as the curmudgeonly David would say in his sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, "preety, preety good".

The film - in which David plays Boris, a middle-aged, married quantum physicist who has a May to December romance with a much younger woman, played by Rachel Evan Wood (pictured with David) - had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday night.

One of the most striking things about the film is the casting of David in the lead role, says the Guardian's Ben Walters, which adds "a new kind of vehicle for Allen's sensibility".

"Boris proves to be a curious melding of Allen's and David's comedic personae, which overlap in many areas: constant indignation at society's shortcomings, a knack for dry, sharp observations and tremendous confidence in their own opinions."

Each man brings their own distinctive characteristics to the role, however. "[Boris's] indulgence of intellectualised amour fou with a much younger woman and discovery of solace in Fred Astaire and Groucho Marx, for instance, are pure Allen, while the character's streak of cocky defiance and impish delight in provocation is very David."

Last night David seemed to live up to that billing at Tribeca. Chewing gum and sloping along the red carpet in the pouring rain, David played up to his misanthropic public persona. After signing a couple of autographs he quickly headed inside New York's Ziegfeld theatre. "It's raining," he smirked, pointing up at the canvas awning. With a shrug, he was gone - deaf to the plaintive pleas of fans: "We're the ones getting wet!"

And as Walters notes, an awning also saves Boris in the film. In the midst of a mid-life crisis, Boris jumps from a high window but his fall is cushioned by a shop's canvas covering. ·