BY BOB STRAUSS >FILM CRITIC

Alex Holdridge's funky, charming Valentine to L.A. takes place on New Year's Eve. Young wannabe screenwriter Wilson (Scoot McNairy) doesn't have a date, or any money for one if he did.

Still, his roommate convinces him to take out a Craigslist ad, and after the usual number of unsettling responses, Wilson hooks up with the seemingly unapproachable, man-wary beauty Vivian (Sara Simmonds).

A tentative trip downtown softens up Vivian a little. More importantly, it really puts the viewer in a better mood, as director of photography Robert Murphy's luscious black-and-white compositions somehow turn decaying and Brutalist buildings rarely seen in our movies into a kind of concrete playground. In a forlorn parking lot off Broadway, what began as a mopey mumblecore comedy turns into something truly sweet, emotionally complex and - dare I say it? - even a little magical.

Third-act complications bring the couple back to Hollywood, where hilarious things happen and the budding relationship convincingly deepens. McNairy virtually grows Wilson from a man-boy into a man through the course of the night, and Simmonds does an expert job of keeping Vivian alternately challenging and beguiling, and very much worth the effort of getting to know.

Made for peanuts by, primarily, a bunch of Texans, "In Search of a Midnight Kiss" gets L.A. like few films do. And writer-director Holdridge understands the aspiring, disappointed but still open-to-anything crowd on the fringes of show business quite persuasively.

The film celebrates a romanticism of a most realistic, down-and-dirty-but-not-yet-out kind.

IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS

Not rated: language, drug use, nudity, mild violence.

Running time: 1 hr. 37 min.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Monica, Santa Monica; Regency South Coast Village, Costa Mesa.