Starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. Rated 14A.

Romantic comedy manages to be both the most annoying movie genre and also the easiest to watch, given that it puts appealing stars in pleasant settings. Amy Poehler and, especially, Paul Rudd have certainly served their time in those air-conditioned salt mines, as both practitioners and parodists.

Here, they stage an elaborate prank for writer-director David Wain, who previously directed Rudd in Wanderlust and his National Lampoon–like Wet Hot American Summer. Wain’s even better known for directing sketch shows like MadTV and The State, with regulars from the latter, like Ken Marino and Michael Ian Black, showing up in small parts. And Wain’s leads here are particularly well attuned to vignettes spoofing obvious but still ripe targets.

The most apparent model for They Came Together would be You’ve Got Mail, with Poehler playing adorably scattered Molly, who runs a small candy shop being targeted by corporate giant Candy Systems and Research, where Rudd’s Joel is a midlevel executive. Sure, they get to the ethical face-off eventually, but first must meet cute and fight about everything else.

Trouble starts when both arrive—hence the title—dressed as Ben Franklin for a fancy-costume dinner party. Of course, neither notices the coincidence, so intent are they on boilerplate rom-com bantering. When Molly has a rudely sexual outburst and leaves the table, Joel turns to his host and smirks, “I’ll have what she’s having!” The guy sensibly answers, “It’s all the same food.”

Pretty mild stuff, for sure, and cheaply shot. But it’s reliably giggle-making, and Wain keeps changing tones and settings, with amusing support from the likes of SNL’s Bill Hader, playing half a couple listening to the tale of how They met, and Ed Helms and Cobie Smulders as unsuitable rivals for our motley lovebirds’ attention. Even at 83 breezy minutes, the conceit wears thin, mainly because you have no emotional investment in the characters. Still, you just might fall in love with the kind of movie that has an experimental dance company act out its biggest sex scene.