“Say something rabbinical,” a woman says playfully to the cute rabbi she’s just spent the evening flirting with. It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy with the enthusiasm of something like “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory.

Kristen Bell stars opposite Adam Brody as Joanne and Noah. They meet one night at a dinner party in the Hollywood Hills, with a sparkling view of the city below. They aren’t opposites so much as people with different backgrounds, but both occupy a similarly high-end strata of Los Angeles filled with spacious and pristine homes and zero worries about money. The casting has a meta quality to it; as actors, Bell and Brody embody a certain type of LA TV millennial, each having starred in series earlier in their careers (“Veronica Mars” and “The O.C.”) where the Southern California setting was essential to the storytelling. This feels like their natural environment.

She’s humorously caustic, unfiltered and agnostic (but vaguely Christian). By day, she hosts a podcast with her sister where they talk about their dating and sex lives. He’s a rabbi with a lowkey confidence (at a reform temple, by the looks of it) who is newly single, having just broken up with a longtime girlfriend, to the chagrin of his overbearing mother (Tovah Feldshuh).

There’s a palpable chemistry and they hit it off instantly. Is there really something there? Oh, yes. They have spark! They have rapport! They’re a two-person charm factory — deeply attracted to, and amused by, each other — and Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. They know how to convey excited longing with a look, while also leaving room for vulnerabilities and insecurities that feel organic to the characters.

The show is created by Erin Foster (daughter of Grammy-winning composer David Foster) and the premise is loosely based on her experiences dating her now-husband (a Jewish talent manager instead of a rabbi), but it also feels familiar enough to underscore how satisfying rom-coms can be when done right. There’s little in Foster’s resume — stalled attempts at an acting career, a short-lived mockumentary satirizing reality TV and, more recently, podcasting — to suggest she had it in her to make a series this good. That’s not a backhanded compliment but an argument in favor of streamers taking risks on untested talent (hopefully even those without a famous parent).

Scenes like the couple’s first kiss play out with real attention to build-up and follow-through and there’s a confidence in how Noah finesses the moment. The ice cream they’re eating gets placed down on the sidewalk and quickly forgotten. He tells her to put her bag down, too; there will be no juggling of anything but their anticipation. He takes her face in his hand and lingers a moment before going in, and all of these small gestures add up to something quietly thrilling that pops off the screen. That’s harder to accomplish than you’d think, but looking around at so many recent mediocre efforts drives it home. The episode is directed by Greg Mottola and it’s more than I expected from the director of “Superbad” and “Confess, Fletch.” A reminder of what someone can do when the material is good enough.

The central couple is surrounded by antic family members who are sometimes well-meaning, sometimes sabotaging, including her sister Morgan, who is somehow biting and wonderfully faux blasé all at once (Justine Lupe, best known as Connor Roy’s wife on “Succession”) and his brother Sasha (“Veep’s” Timothy Simons), an overgrown man-child who is forever riding the coattails of Noah’s laidback vibes.

Kristen Bell, left, and Adam Brody in “Nobody Wants This,” which is loosely based on Erin Foster’s own love life. (Hopper Stone/Netflix/TNS)

Foster never pretends there’s anything weird or out of the ordinary for middle-aged people to be single, and at a time when too many comedies settle for lightly amusing, here’s a series with jokes. Legitimate jokes, not just ironic or absurd moments, but jokes. When Joanne picks up a call from an executive looking to acquire their podcast, she puts him on speaker and he asks: “Should we grab your sister, or does that not matter?” Morgan, right next to her, frantically jumps in: “Hi, I matter! Hi!” When the mothers at Noah’s temple clamor around him eager to boast about their children, one congregant tells him, “My son just finished his student film — it’s a documentary about the history of documentaries.”

The show has so much going for it. It also has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. How did no one at any point in the creative process ask: Why are we writing them all as harpies? It’s a conspicuous issue, particularly in contrast to the men, who are portrayed as easygoing enough to tolerate and love these tyrants in their lives. Hollywood trafficking in cringey stereotypes is nothing new. You just hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy.

But this isn’t where “Nobody Wants This” spends most of its time, and so much else about it works. Here’s what a healthy relationship looks like, while also having enough complications — both internal and external — to make their interplay, and the growing seriousness of their relationship, interesting enough for a 10-episode series.

The couple’s issues, when they do arise, seem reasonable. They aren’t lying to, or cheating on, one another. They’re not caught up in rigid expectations around gender roles. Their banter isn’t about trading insults. She has anxieties about opening up, but she rises to the occasion. It’s refreshing! Figuring out how and when to give a partner grace is an ongoing process that tests all relationships. Joanne and Noah manage it with emotional intelligence and emotional intimacy, which is rare on TV. Lovers don’t have to be written as immature or cruel to create stakes or capture your attention. Joanne and Noah are fully realized characters who happen to be great screen company.

You can imagine some doubting Netflix executive thinking “Nobody wants this …” Foster has proven them wrong.

“Nobody Wants This” — 3.5 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Netflix

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.