Edward Burns has had a bumpy ride since his 1995 breakthrough hit The Brothers McMullen. Witness this warm-hearted but wafer-thin, little-seen 1998 curio, for which he's only got himself to blame as it sees him struggling in all three capacities as writer director and star. Burns plays, none too charismatically, heroine Lauren Holly's ex-lover, who turns up like a bad penny wanting to resume things even though he left without even saying goodbye. But then on the other hand, there's Jon Bon Jovi, who is surprisingly effective as a local mechanic, a nice, sincere, unexceptional sort of bloke, who really loves Holly. And Blythe Danner (Gyneth Paltrow's mother) adds more classy acting allure as Holly's mom. The film's main problem is that the tentative script and skimpily sketched characters just aren't exceptional enough to make this the riveting bitter-sweet emotional experience it's clearly intended to be. It's not that it's bad or even boring, it's just annoyingly plain dull and uninspiring.

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