Review: 'Splitsville' again lets the team of Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin find tension, and laughs, between bromance and romance.

“Splitsville” is a sprightly and perfectly calibrated comedy of romance and bromance gone hilariously wrong, written by and starting real-life pals Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin — who are proving that they are quite adept at this kind of comedy of errors, between this and their 2019 debut “The Climb.”

The movie starts with Marvin’s character, Carey, driving with his wife, Ashley (Adria Arjona), on the way to visit Paul (Covino) and his wife, Julie (Dakota Johnson), at their beach house. Before they get there, though, they witness a horrible freeway crash — which prompts Ashley, a life coach, to think about what she’ll regret in life, and one of those regrets is not telling Carey before now that she wants a divorce.

Carey eventually arrives alone to Paul and Julie’s. (The way he gets to the house is the first of the movies many sustained sight gags.) Over wine, Paul and Julie tell Carey the secret of their long marriage: They have an open relationship, and each are OK if the other sleeps with someone else.

At least that’s what they tell themselves. When Paul returns to the city for business, Julie confides in Carey that she is sure he’s off having an affair with another woman — which bothers Julie more than she wants to admit when Paul’s there. Naturally, Julie decides the way to process this is to have sex with Carey.

After doing the deed with Juiie, Carey feels guilty and wants to get back together with Ashley. Unfortunately for him, Ashley already has moved on to her next lover, a hunky but dim bartender, Jackson (Charlie Gillespie). And while Ashley runs through a squad of new lovers (including a mentalist played by “Succession’s” Nicholas Braun), Julie decides she’s done with Paul’s lies — sexual and financial — and shows an interest in hooking up again with Carey.

As with “The Climb,” Covino (who directed both films) and Marvin demonstrate an uncanny ability to write precisely plotted comedies that feel improvisational. They also serve their material well in their performances, with Covino as the sniveling cad and Marvin as the good-natured heel. They also go for broke starring in one of the funniest fight scenes to be featured in a movie in ages.

The women with whom Covino and Marvin are paired deliver more than just glamorous looks. Johnson gives Julie a dry wit as she tries to rise above Paul’s duplicity and Carey’s lovelorn gazes. And Arjona steals the movie by capturing Ashley’s indecision over whether or not to win Carey back. 

Where Covino and Marvin get the most laughs are in a series of set pieces — particularly an 11th birthday party for Julie and Paul’s son, Russ (Simon Webster) — where Paul and Carey are confronted with the consequences of their romantic choices. Those moments, staged like an ensemble comedy at double speed, make “Splitsville” a singularly hilarious movie.

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‘Splitsville’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, September 5, in theaters. Rated R for language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity. Running time: 104 minutes.