Valentine’s Day is still a few weeks away, but love was in the air at the LA premiere of Your Place or Mine Thursday evening, as co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher turned out to celebrate their new Netflix rom-com. With throngs of cheering fans queued up outside of the city’s Regency Village Theater to catch a glimpse of the beaming A-listers, who play best friends turned lovers Debbie and Peter, Witherspoon and Kutcher were showered with love from their fellow cast and crew, including writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna, who seemed to be feeling the love, too. 

“Ashton and Reese are iconic — two of the best ever,” she told Tudum. “They create such a great atmosphere on set. They’re so professional and happy and cheerful and helpful. That really sets a tone for everyone, and I was really lucky to be around that. We just really had a ball.”

Exploring what happens when two best friends discover that their love for one another 20 years after their initial meeting is more than just platonic, the fun and funny rom-com puts a new spin on the genre by depicting two people who are very much grown up and settled in their ways, rather than the twenty- or thirtysomethings we typically see in such will-they-or-won’t-they films. Check out the who’s who from the LA premiere below.

For Kutcher, the chance to work alongside Witherspoon was a dream come true. “Honestly, I love romantic comedies,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to work with Aline Brosh McKenna, and with Reese. So when I read the screenplay, which was brilliant and very reminiscent of my own personal life experience, I was like, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’” 

Having been struck by Witherspoon’s string of next-level performances over the years, Kutcher added that working with his co-star was like having a sparring partner who ups the stakes in every scene. But what she does off-screen impressed him as well. “She reached out to me about a month before we started shooting and was like, ‘Hey, we’re supposed to be like best friends, but I don’t really know you.’ And I was like, ‘That’s right.’ And then she started sending me video messages every day. And I started sending her video messages back. We started living the lives of the characters before we ever began filming. I just thought that was extraordinary.” 

The equally smitten Witherspoon returned the love. “We had the best cast,” said Witherspoon, who’s also credited as a producer on Your Place or Mine. “Everybody was laughing. We had the best time, and you can see that on the screen. We’re just having fun.” 

Along the red carpet — well, OK, it was technically a white carpet — all of the rom-com’s supporting players echoed how much they adored and respected the film’s lead actors. “She’s a real one,” Zoe Chao said of Witherspoon. Chao plays Minka, one of Peter’s lovers who ends up becoming Debbie’s confidant. “Reese is really generous with her experience. She shared a lot of stories about growing up in the industry, things she would have done differently and things she wished she knew. And she’s just a great hang.” Griffin Matthews, who plays a professor who Debbie encounters on her journey to self-actualization, agreed: “Reese is as good a human as you think she is. It’s shocking.” 

Vella Lovell, who plays one of Peter’s exes, had equal amounts of adoration for Kutcher. “It just felt like hanging out with your old friend,” she said. “Ashton is a movie star, but It was just chill and low-key.” Adds another Your Place or Mine castmember, Shiri Appleby, “I couldn’t believe Aline was asking me to be in this. She was like, ‘Do you want to be in a scene with Ashton and flirt with him in a bar?’ I was like, ‘Sign me up!’ Would you pass that up? And he was a total delight.” 

Though McKenna says that she wanted her film to show people who’d had some real life experience (and who are often their own obstacle to happiness), Witherspoon maintains that she mainly just wanted people to have a good time and enjoy the movie. “I just want people to have fun and not feel like they have to take notes. This isn’t a class. It’s a pass/fail, and you already passed.” 

Since Your Place or Mine shuttles back and forth between New York and LA, we had to ask its stars: Which city is more conducive to romance, the Big Apple or the City of Angels? Here’s what they had to say.

TIG NOTARO
“I’d have to say LA just because I found romance here. My wife and I met on a little indie film. So yeah, you gotta have a little bit part in an indie film and then find a special someone that’s also got a tiny little part.” 

RACHEL BLOOM
“New York, because it’s closer together, and you can meet people spontaneously. I would say there are more pound-for-pound classic romantic locations in New York City.”

GRIFFIN MATTHEWS
“They’re both hellholes. But, New York. Because you are forced to be with people that you might not meet. In LA, you can get in that car and never see another person ever again. But New York, you’re sitting on the train. There’s always cute people on the train.”

ZOE CHAO
“I’m gonna have to go with New York. It’s moody. You can play jazz in New York. You can feel things. I feel like LA is reliably sunny. But sometimes you need a little drama to feel a certain way or push you in a certain direction. And New York pushes you around.”

ASHTON KUTCHER
“Tough call. I would say New York because it’s right outside your doorstep. In LA you’ve got to get in the car and go there.”

REESE WITHERSPOON
“New York. All my single girlfriends say you can’t meet anybody in LA.” 

Your Place or Mine begins streaming on Netflix on Feb. 10.