Go ahead, meet the Las Vegatarians. Or a geek for whom life is strictly lollipops-‘n’- Latin. And a Dilwali who lives it up in the city of casinos, quickie marriages and oho, quicker annulments. Bad weddy bad.

So there you are in the company of the querulous (initially) twosome of Ek Main aur Ekk Tu directed by debutant Shakun Batra. And they’re quite engaging and pleasant despite the stereotypes they portray of the uptight nerd and the unihibited poppet. This is because Batra directs with a cool candour, avoids shrieking melodrama and in fact, the end is one of the subtlest seen at the movies in years. Derivative of a DVD libraryful of Hollyhits ranging from The Graduate and Sweet November to What Happens in Vegas, the plot works essentially because the direction is kept at a low simmer. Despite quite a few lapses into cheesy sections ( a toilet room seduction, and grading each other’s bums, eeewww) , the overall result is pretty hip and sophisticated.

Quite naturally, the film also benefits from the generous production values – right from the colour-coordinated bed linen to lampshades – associated with Dharma Productions. Fortunately, you aren’t subjected to the usual cliches about Vegas either – believe it or not, there isn’t a glimpse of the slot machines and roulette tables or pole dancers. And one of the most hilarious scenes is absolutely off-the-wall: the hero being interviewed for a job by Japanese honchos with the help of a translator. And there’s a sensitively handled sequence traipsing down school nostalgia lanes. Plus there’s a platonic bedroom chatfest that is actually plausible.

It’s in some of the detailing that Batra doesn’t quite get his mojo right, calling a couple of shrinks ‘psycholigists’ when ‘psycho-analysts’ would have been appropriate. Then the Richie Witchy parents of the hero come off as caricatures, what with the mum (good ole Ratna Pathak-Shah) making much heavy weather of her nail-polish shades. And dad (as good ole Boman Irani) goes crackers over the colour of his son’s bow-tie. Indeed, some depth could have been given to the dominating parents who merely come off as weak echoes of Pran-Sonia Sahni of RK’s Bobby. And hello, since when did chopsticks become the must-use eatware on a dining table?

Such nitpickings apart, the dramaturgy moves smoothly entering the everyday beats of the repressed architect (Imran Khan) and hair-stylist Vidalni Sassoonni (Kareena Kapoor). She’s coming out of a series of lousy relationships and needs a job. He’s coming out of his only relationship and needs a ditto. She would have liked to be a ballerina but following an accident has a ‘steel ball’ in her ankle. He would have liked to be a still photographer but following parents is stiff as starch. After bickering and bak-bak-baking like movie couples always do, Repressed and Vidalni end up getting married after a tequila night. Hic hic hurray?

No flurry, no worry.They’ll annul the thing-thang but yyyyyupp, Repressed discovers he loves his Vidalni. Tan, tan tana. Intermission. The second-half is for parents – his and hers – to do their approval and disapproval numbers. Given the thin screenplay, the addition of some sub-plots and characters could have beefed up the material. Thankfully, the mandatory best friends, sad-eyed doggies and empathetic chachas and chachis are missing. High time to create fresh abettors to romcoms.

In terms of style, there is a certain economy especially in the editing – so that chunks of scenes which could have gone on and on are stopped as soon as the point is made. This is the kind of shorthand that doesn’t take the audience to be ninnies, drawing away at just the precise moment. Examples: scenes showing security guards returning a scooty to Vidalni,the flight from Vegas to Mumbai and best of all, the la-di-duh fancy dinner which goes awry. Terrific direction and cutting there.

Amit Trivedi who normally ensures an off-the-hackneyed-track music score isn’t exactly in his element here. The number influenced by western country music skips the groove. Mercifully, the dialogue writing is correctly unobtrusive.

And the performances are spirited. Imran Khan has his endearing moments but he could do with varying his dialogue pitch and facial expressions. Why? Why does he seem to be portraying the same cuddly pooh in all his films? Kareena Kapoor is particularly skillful and appealing in the second-half calling for a measure of sobriety.

Bottombuzz: this date flick isn’t entirely seedless but it’s sweet and and tender -- best seen with someone you love in the last row, corner seats.