How can you resist a romantic comedy that features incest, testicular trauma and Shirley MacLaine?

Well, pretty easily actually.

Jennifer Aniston plays New York Times obituary writer Sarah, a stalled career girl who has happily ripped up her Pasadena country club roots.

She's engaged to the dull-but-worthy Jeff (Ruffalo), the sort of guy who almost passes up on the chance of the Mile High Club because the cubicle lighting "is too harsh".

They're heading west for the wedding of Sarah's sister Annie (Suvari) to a gleaming-toothed Californian clone.

However, once back in the smug LA suburb of Pasadena, Sarah discovers - thanks to her tipsily indiscreet gran (MaClaine) - that poor old Richard Jenkins may not be her real dad after it all.

That honour could go to internet mogul Kevin Costner - think a groomed Bill Gates - who had a college fling with Sarah's now-deceased mom.

And in a novel twist it appears The Graduate was based on a rumour doing the rounds of Pasadena - coincidentally based on the, erm, comings and goings of Sarah's family.

Sarah seeks Kev out only to find that he's sterile (thanks to the aforementioned testicula trauma) and before you know it they're in bed. Hoorah!

Yes, this is quite as queasily dodgy as it sounds with Jen allowed to think that she's been getting jiggy with her dad. Laugh? You'd think you were in Lincolnshire.

However, she's quite easily the best thing in a comedy that plays like a TV sitcom force-fed so-so funny lines until it swells to feature status.

Ruffalo does what he does in every other rom-com while MacLaine doesn't even get the gags that made her appearance in Monster-in-Law so bearable.

And as for the riff on The Graduate theme - it's not going to seduce anybody.

Tim Evans