There must be high hopes this comedy based on a novel by Charles Webb will be as successful as a previous book - The Graduate.

A dynamic as winning as the older woman seducing the younger man may be absent but strong turns and a wry humour make it worth a look.

British artist Colin Ware (Firth) winds up in a New England town lovesick and jetlagged when he finds his fiancee is marrying someone he's never heard of.

However, he soon discovers his business appears to be everyone else's in the tight-knit community of Hope, Vermont.

At the Battlefield Inn, landlady Joanie Fisher (Steenburgen) dismisses his self-pity and hooks him up with Mandy (Graham).

She's a "caregiver" out of her mind with boredom at the Shining Shores resthome, who thinks nothing of slugging back half a bottle to see her through the day.

Ripping away layers of Colin's English reserve, she seduces him and he finds his resistance melting away along with memories of ex-fiancee Vera (Driver).

The just as things appear to be taking off, Vera lands in America and heads straight for Hope to reclaim her man.

Like Hugh Grant, Firth runs the risk of being cast as the romantic Brit, but his nicely underplayed performance is a highlight.

Graham plays it kooky, yet with a light touch miles away from the contrived wackiness of Sandra Bullock.

Only Driver finds little to work with as the hard-headed chain-smoking fashionista of cliche and it's very difficult to see her attraction to arty Colin in the first place.

Nevertheless, there are some sweet moments, especially those featuring Oliver Platt's marketing-obsessed mayor.

Tim Evans