Hearts remain hidden in earnest ‘Love Song’

“Love Song’’ follows Beane (Kuttner), a lonely young man with limited imagination or hope in his life. His sister Joan (Hayes) is his polar opposite: driven, demanding, as likely to make an intern in her office cry as she is to pour herself a drink when she gets home. She and her husband, Harry (Berger-Jones), whose marriage is fueled by fast-paced banter that might be cruel if it were not so funny, try to engage Beane with dinner and conversation.

When Beane takes a personality test administered by the well-meaning Harry, he answers a question about joy and life with a response tinged with fear and death. Beane may be simple, but his innocence, as played by Kuttner, is charming and believable. Think Forrest Gump without the saintly platitudes.

But when Beane meets a woman named Molly (Lyman), whom he describes as a “liberator,’’ she awakens him to the possibilities in life he hadn’t allowed himself to imagine before. Molly is full of mystery, apparently arriving to steal Beane’s possessions, but deciding to steal his heart instead. This scene is delivered with brilliant comic balance by an aggressive Molly, who is annoyed there is so little to take, and a hapless Beane. “Why do you only have a spoon?’’ she demands. “Why would I have a fork if it’s going to lie to me?’’ he replies without irony.