In The Land of the Free there are some things that money can't buy...so the simple answer for childless couples is to head south of the border.

So six wannabe American mothers find themselves kicking their heels in a South American adoption centre while the paperwork securing them a child is settled.

Of course, it's not as simple as that as Sayles - rather heavy-handedly - points out that it really is a lottery of human life.

The mums-in-waiting range from the health-obsessed Skipper (Hannah) who, we learn, has already lost three kids, to touchingly optimistic Jennifer (Gyllenhaal).

There's also the poisonously bigoted Nan (Gay Harden) and the ultra reasonable Gayle (Mary Steenburgen).

Taylor's cynically grounded Leslie gets all the best lines: "A sociopath is a psychopath with a smaller body count."

They are all staying at a hotel waiting to see if they've been successful or, as it is winningly described, staying at the home of Our Lady of Perpetual Red Tape.

Sayles introduces so many plots and sub-plots that the finished product resembles a municipal allotment rather than a coherent whole.

Highlights are Susan Lynch's simple yet poignant description of how she has imagined a day out with the daughter she has never had.

However, there are also so many narrative strands fighting for attention that many of the characters can never be fully fleshed out.

Never less than engaging, it's the uniform quality of the performances rather than any politcal points ready to be struck that make this quiet success.

Tim Evans