The new Woody Allen film, Whatever Works, is all about unconventional love matches. Larry David plays a crotchety self-proclaimed genius who gave up a luxurious Upper West Side apartment, a professorship at Columbia, and a lovely wife … for a dingy hole in Chinatown and a life of reclusive morbid neuroticism. In short, Larry David plays Woody Allen as his uncensored self. That is, if Woody Allen decided to give up his Upper East Side townhouse, his film career, and his love of attractive young starlets.

But a jejune 19-year-old runaway from the Deep South intervenes on his life, and they make a mismatched couple: the charmingly spacey underage belle and the semi-elderly cynic with a limp—not a pimp limp, but a limp that resulted from a failed suicide attempt. And the moral of the story is something to the effect of: “life is limited, the world can be a detestable place, so when it comes to love, savor whatever works.”

People are desperate to find lasting relationships that make sense according to conventions. But maybe it’s time to date the pool boy, or even marry him, if he makes you happy and he’s not a total wanker.

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