Middle Life begins with Andi (Leah Fay Goldstein) happening on an overturned car. She rushes to help the occupants, Ryan (Peter Dreimanis) and his father (Mike D. Smith). Months later, the two reconnect by chance. As they start to spend more time together, Ryan’s live-for-the-moment attitude and boyish energy infuse Andi with a needed spark of devil-may-care spontaneity.

Andi’s always had a plan, and she’s been working it relentlessly, as has her husband, Chris (Luke Lalonde). Her need for lining things up and getting them in order is reflected in her career as a wedding planner, but her own marriage lacks spirit and life ever since the arrival of their infant son. As Andi’s coffee dates transform into bowling nights with Ryan, and Chris is left at home to chafe, the seams in their union start to unravel.

Ryan, meantime, has more cares and worries than his enthusiastic nature might suggest. His father’s mental status has not been the same since the accident; what’s more, Ryan is beset by a mysterious and painful ailment that flares up at incredibly inconvenient times. Andi’s more organized, regimented way of doing things might do him a world of good, except that she’s far more open to his spur-of-the moment impetuosity than he is to her detail-oriented approach to life.

That’s how the two end up taking a literally last-minute trip to Los Angeles, making no preparations and choosing the destination on the fly. Ryan is perfectly happy to cavort around the sun-drenched precincts of Hollywood with no idea what’s coming next or even where they will sleep that night, but the catch-as-catch-can nature of the adventure wears on Andi. Theirs has always been a platonic friendship, but as the differences in their outlooks and their natures grow more pronounced their relationship seems likely to incinerate… or ignite in a wholly different way.

Writer-director Pavan Moondi crafts a charming rom-com from unexpected material. The script ignores certain things (what is Ryan’s dad doing while Ryan is out bowling all night or haring off to L.A. for days at a time?), but as grounded as this ebullient fairy tale might otherwise be, it’s still a cinematic fantasy about finding the person who can smooth your rough edges and fill in your gaps.

Middle Life opens in U.S. theaters on August 6.