There are a number of good lines and wise words in this sequel to Terms of Endearment, and one breathtaking scene when a brief breeze tells Shirley MacLaine that a friend has died.

Alas, moments of merit are not enough by themselves to sustain a film of this length, and writer Robert Harling, of Steel Magnolias fame, should have left the directorial duties to someone who knew how.

Too many sticky and stiff scenes result from handling that, unlike the writing, lacks finesse. He even allows the film to drift on five minutes too long.

Time has passed and MacLaine, instead of arguing with her now-dead daughter, is at loggerheads with her sex-crazy teenage granddaughter (Juliette Lewis).

'You spray this house with happiness repellent', Lewis yells, with some justification, before leaving home with her latest boyfriend. Cue for granny to zoom into an affair with her therapist (a sadly misjudged performance by Bill Paxton).

Fragmentary from then on, the film is lifted at the end by Jack Nicholson's cameo.