Ashton Kutcher's Netflix comedy 'The Ranch' amusing, sweet, with solid cast

There’s unexpected poignancy among the laughs in the new Netflix comedy "The Ranch,’’ which reunites Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson as a pair of brothers working hard and playing harder on their father’s Colorado ranch.

The sitcom, whose 10-episode first season is available for streaming today, is much more than just a "That ’70’s Show’’ reunion (or even a mini "Two and a Half Men’’ reunion with guest star Jon Cryer in one episode).

Kutcher plays Colt Bennett, a one-time high-school football hero who never quite found his footing after school. He’s been playing semi-pro football, but that hasn’t entirely panned out, and now he’s 34 and running out of time when he comes back to the ranch to visit his cantankerous, old-school dad, Beau (Sam Elliott), and his older brother, Jameson "Rooster’’ Bennett (Masterson).

The boys’ mom, Maggie (Debra Winger), is around. In fact, she stays over with Beau quite a bit, but she and her husband long ago determined that although they’re still in love, they can’t live under the same roof. Maggie lives in an Airstream behind her eponymous bar, where she serves free beer to her sons.

Colt isn’t welcomed home with open arms. Beau and Rooster resent him for going off to chase footballs — and women — and leaving them to try to keep the ranch going in the middle of a drought. Colt is stopping by only because he has another tryout in the area.

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But when he sees he is needed at home, he lies and says he didn’t make the team. Despite knowing he’s letting himself in for Beau’s constant criticism of his refusal to grow up and take responsibility for his life, Colt is going to to find out whether you can go home again.

The show asks predictable questions: Will Colt grow up and become a responsible adult? Will Beau and Maggie move their relationship beyond regular hookups? Will Abby be able to keep herself from falling for Colt’s charm again? Can Beau and the boys save the ranch?

There’s not a whiff of sophistication in the show’s first 10 episodes, but that absence becomes an asset in the foundation of appealing chemistry among the lead characters.

There’s a lot of country music in the show’s soundtrack, including a rendition of "Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,’’ sung by Shooter Jennings and Lukas Nelson, sons of Waylon and Willie, respectively.

The cast is notable. Masterson and Kutcher quickly get back into their old ’’70’s Show" rhythm, and Elliott does grouchy with heart very well. It’s great to see Winger in the cast, but she’s slightly off her game here, often sounding as if she’s still at the table reading of the script.

The jokes are frequent, if not all that imaginative, but funny enough. What makes the show modestly enjoyable is its innate sweetness and an approximate authenticity of context.

’’The Ranch" is worthy of note because it represents the continuing Netflix strategy of touching all the demographic bases. The new series has a fundamental grounding similar to that of shows such as ’’The Middle" and ’’Last Man Standing." Compared with many other comedies, it isn’t cynical or snarky. Beau, Rooster and Colt might trade verbal zingers, but we never doubt that their affection for one another is genuine. That alone makes ’’The Ranch" worth viewing.