On our way out of the Music Box Theater where the revival of Yasmina Reza’s Art is currently playing, my female theatergoing companion remarked, “It was very funny, but men don’t really talk to each other that way. They don’t discuss their feelings so much.”

“But these are French men, not Americans,” I replied. “Ooooh,” she said. My friend may have correct in her assessment. The comedy in Reza’s easy, tightly-constructed wind-up toy of a play derives from the rapid-fire interchanges between a trio of longtime pals and the conflicting emotions which arise from the purchase of a ludicrously expensive, seemingly meaningless painting by one of them. Their initial reactions of wounded pride on the part of the purchaser and shock and bewilderment from the other two soon give way to long-buried resentments and everyone’s entrails are metaphorically spilled all over the stage. American males usually keep their guts and feelings safely bottled up (maybe Europeans are generally more expressive), and that’s what makes the play so funny: seeing the characters test the limits of their friendship and letting their emotions explode after holding them down for a hour before the final 30 minutes. The play doesn’t have anything particularly insightful to say about art or elitist culture itself, but this slick, sleek, well-polished production is a pleasurable diversion.

Reza’s sharp and amusing play in Christopher Hampton’s idiomatic and highly accessible English translation is given a fast, shiny staging by Scott Ellis and provides a rigorous acting workout for its three stars, Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris. After smash-hit runs in Paris and London, Art opened on Broadway in 1998, winning the Tony Award for Best Play and running 600 performances, a respectable run for a non-musical. The slim play is not quite as deep or daring as Reza’s other Tony-winning work God of Carnage which borrows a bit from Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? But Art is riotously funny, puts across a few noncontroversial positions about art (it’s all in the eye of the beholder), and will keep you amused for an hour and a half.

As noted, the premise is relatively basic. Novice art collector Marc (Harris) buys an outrageously expensive abstract painting which is essentially a white blank canvas. Well, if you look really closely, you can see a few diagonal lines, also white. His close friend of 15 years, Serge (Cannavale) is outraged that Marc would waste so much cash on what he regards as a piece of trash at best and a swindle at worst. Attempting to play peacemaker is their mutual pal Ivan (Corden in the plum role).

In the original Broadway production, Alfred Molina was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk as Ivan and Corden is a prime candidate for plaudit season in the same role. Cannavale and Harris are both marvelous as the main antagonists, taking opposite positions on the all-white canvas, each growing progressively more aggravated with the other. Cannavale makes use of Reza’s stage direction that Serge utters a nasty deprecating chuckle almost every time he reacts to the painting, delivering the perfect sneering laugh. He also gradually reveals Serge’s hurt and sense of betrayal at the root of his anger at Marc. Harris perfectly delineates Marc’s bristling indignation as his friends question his taste and judgement and expertly conveys Marc’s conflict between his desire for culture and loyalty to his pals.

But Corden has much more comic material to work with. He takes the opportunities and runs with them. Early in the play, Ivan has an extended manic monologue describing why he is late for the threesome’s date for dinner and a movie and Corden turns it into a tour de force of frustration. Complication follows complication as he explains his battles with his mother, his fiancee and her stepmother over upcoming wedding plans, not to mention his dissatisfaction with his new job selling stationary. Corden builds a tower of panic which finally disintegrates when he reaches the top. He spends the rest of the evening bouncing between Cannavale and Harris like a ping pong ball, seeking approval for one and then the other. He grows dizzy with the back-and-forth and eventually collapses in a hysterical heap. It’s a riotously escalating ascent into madness, exquisitely climbed by Corden.

The design elements are sleek and modern with a minimalist, silver-toned set by David Rockwell, hip costumes by Linda Cho, subtle and versatile lighting by Jen Schriever and thumping, electronic original music by Kid Harpoon and sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman. Art isn’t quite a work of art, but it’s fun and offers an exceptional comic turn from Corden.

Art — Sept. 16–Dec. 21. Music Box Theater, 239 W. 45th St., NYC. Running time: 90 mins. with no intermission. telecharge.com.