Does the idea of your parents having sex make your blood run cold?

If so, you may wish to skip Something's Gotta Give. Everybody else: Come on down.

Something's Gotta Give is a love story about grown-ups.

A year ago, About Schmidt won critical raves for Jack Nicholson, despite the fact that it is -- not to put too fine a point on this or anything -- a condescending bit of fluff filled with dreadful cliches about aging.

The news that Nicholson would co-star with Diane Keaton in yet another comedic tale about late love was enough to give this moviegoer hives.

Life past age 40: There is nothing that Hollywood does worse, and considering the supply of really bad stuff that emanates from the veritable cornucopia of offal that is Tinseltown, that's saying something.

And this is saying something else -- thanks to a very snappy script and pretty much perfect casting, Something's Gotta Give is a wonderful film and one of the great surprises of the season.

Writer/director Nancy Meyers has written a killer story about grown-ups, risk-taking, passion and vulnerability and more or less disguised it all as a romantic comedy.

The filmmaker lures you in with some better-than-average laughs, gets you to love the characters and then moves slowly but surely into much more serious territory.

Nicholson plays a lothario with an eye for much younger women.

He has a small heart attack just before hopping into bed with his latest flame (Amanda Peet), and then recuperates at the home of the girl's mother -- that's Keaton -- and, yes, the set-up is a bit silly, but never mind.

Forced together by circumstances, Keaton and Nicholson stop fighting, start talking and eventually begin to fall in love, a development that takes them both by surprise.

At the same time, Nicholson's heart doctor (Keanu Reeves, of all people, and totally charming here) also starts falling for Keaton.

Fantasyland? No -- thanks to the performances.

And despite advertisements to the contrary, it's not all laughs, either.

Diane Keaton is extraordinary in this role.

She must have absolute faith in her director, too, because this one is the emotional equivalent of running down Main Street naked.

(This film is rated PG)

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