Sure, George (Paul Rudd) and Nina (Jennifer Aniston) are made for each other when it comes to taking dancing lessons, sharing one carton of Haagen-Dazs with two spoons and trading war stories about their other romances. But as a gay man and straight woman bound by a tender friendship, can they really raise Nina's baby together?

This is a film that allows the pregnant Nina to be quite serious when she suggests that prospect to George, her soul- and roommate. It's also glib enough to offset the issue by having Nina and George make their decision during a romp at an amusement park.

Adapted by Wendy Wasserstein from Stephen McCauley's breezy novel of star-crossed relationships, and directed in unexpectedly plucky fashion by Nicholas Hytner, "The Object of My Affection" is easier to watch than it is to believe.

That's because Ms. Aniston has the enviable problem of seeming too young, adorable and funny for the role she plays. Coyly cast once more as a wallflower whose life is fraught with lousy luck, Ms. Aniston's Nina knows exactly one available heterosexual man (John Pankow). And he is a humorously unappetizing specimen. After Nina becomes pregnant by him, she sees no other option besides trying to revamp George.

But, as played with reticent charm by the boyish Rudd, George has a life of his own. A schoolteacher who is jilted at the story's start by his self-satisfied lover (Tim Daly), George is grateful for Nina's offer of a place to live at first. And the film engagingly watches these two becoming close companions. ("Don't open the door for any gasmen unless you think either of us would be interested," Nina calls out while leaving for work.)

But the story has no particular urgency until George, only temporarily too shellshocked for sex, begins noticing other men again. Though the film shows him drifting until then into a physical relationship with Nina, all bets between them are abruptly off when George remembers he is gay.

Whatever the possible real-life fallout from such a situation, on film it becomes relatively toothless. Nina is privy to the wisdom of one of George's new acquaintances, an aging drama critic played with refreshing worldliness by Nigel Hawthorne, as he sounds the film's only notes of real poignancy. Otherwise, lucky coincidences and a false feel-good finale buffer the story against its most difficult and interesting possibilities.

But "The Object of My Affections" doesn't often strive for seriousness anyhow. This comedy is content to enjoy the beguiling antics of Ms. Aniston, who is as skillful here as she is miscast, and to let its colorful minor characters give it a sitcom spin. Alan Alda and Allison Janney are broadly, gratingly funny as the world's top literary agent ("Honey, I just signed Castro") and his even more name-dropping wife, who is Nina's stepsister.

Ms. Wasserstein gives their scenes a brash sparkle that contrasts with the film's far more congenial gay milieu, as best exemplified by Hawthorne. "Really! How Bloomsbury!" he exclaims upon hearing about George and Nina and their unconventional, though hardly unheard-of, family ties.

Production notes:

THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION

CAST: Paul Rudd (George Hanson), Jennifer Aniston (Nina Borowski), Alan Alda (Sidney Miller), Allison Janney (Constance Miller), Tim Daly (Dr. Robert Joley), John Pankow (Vince McBride), Nigel Hawthorne (Rodney Fraser) and Steve Zahn (Frank Hanson).

Directed by Nicholas Hytner; written by Wendy Wasserstein, based on the novel by Stephen McCauley; director of photography, Oliver Stapleton; edited by Tariq Anwar; music by George Fenton; production designer, Jane Musky; produced by Laurence Mark; released by 20th Century Fox.

Running time: 110 minutes.