My Best Friend's Wedding was a sleeper hit for director PJ Hogan, mostly thanks to Julia Roberts' show-stealing gay mate and pretend fiance, Rupert Everett.

So when Hogan came to cast the gay lover of a pop star in his latest, Unconditional Love, Rupert was at the top of the list.

Middle-aged housewife Grace (Bates) is hit by a double whammy when her husband (Aykroyd) leaves her and her pop idol, Welshman Victor Fox (surely not a Tom Jones take-off?), is murdered.

She flies to England for the funeral where she discovers, to her shock, that Victor was gay and his valet, Dirk (Everett) was really his lover.

United by a shared grief, the odd couple trek back to Chicago to track down Victor¿s killer in this comic thriller-come-melodrama.

Unfortunately Rupert and Kathy really do make an odd couple, with few sparks and certainly none of the on-screen bonding we saw with Julia.

Hogan, who also helmed the Abba-esque Muriel's Wedding, was unlikely to avoid the odd musical moment and, with Evita's Jonathan Pryce enlisted as Fox, there are plenty.

Barry The Nose Manilow is also called upon to lead a sing-song of his legendary Can't Smile Without You - a karaoke all too reminiscent of Everett's Say A Little Prayer For You last time round.

Having discovered a 1999 movie of the same name, Hogan's movie spent some time under the pseudonym Who Shot Victor Fox? to avoid confusion. Unfortunately the confusion's still very much apparent.

Suzanne Locke