LOS ANGELES (AP) — After nearly 30 years of friendship and shared tastes in movies, music and comedy, Billy Crystal and Bette Midler have finally taken it to the next level: They did a film together.

The two veteran entertainers first met on the comedy circuit, but never actually worked together until Parental Guidance, in theatres Christmas Day.

“He says we met in the ’60s at the Improv, and of course I don’t remember any of that because I was going so fast,” Midler said in a recent interview.

Crystal and Midler share the screen for the first time in the family film, playing a married couple who bumble their way along to bonding with their grandchildren. Marisa Tomei stars as their Type-A daughter, who regrets having to entrust her three kids to “the other grandparents” during a business trip with her husband when her in-laws aren’t available.

The idea for the movie came from Crystal’s real-life experience caring for his own granddaughters, now ages 6 and 9. He and wife Janice were confounded by the “pages and pages” of rules their daughter left behind. (That daughter, actress Jennifer Crystal Foley, plays a small role in the film.)