"We have something better than cash," announces daughter and brothel-keeper Kath (Louise Lombard) during her mother's wake. "We have values - family values."

Well, after a two-hour glimpse into the lives of the Sandeman clan you'd be forgiven for thinking their "family values" aren't the same as yours or mine.

A get-together for the Liverpool crime family usually ends up in a bloodbath rather than a knees-up around the piano.

Dad (Harris) begins the movie a well-groomed pensioner... but finishes up resembling Michael Foot in a wind tunnel.

He's charitably flooded Liverpool with heroin - but "at least it means there's cash in the youngsters' pockets".

Youngest daughter Jo (Emma Catherwood), a former drug addict, has disowned him and flown the nest.

Meanwhile, Kath and tarty sister Tracy (Lorraine Pilkington) are secretly dividing up the family firm under the nose of stricken dad, whose wife has just died in a botched mugging.

Add to the mix Kath's greedy husband Dean (Paul McGann) and Tracy's sexually ambivalent sadist of a spouse, Jug (Mistry), and the close-knit family begins to unravel.

Unlike other northern cities, such as Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, Liverpool has singly failed to reinvent itself.

And this is reflected in films like this and The 51st State, where there is no hope or optimism - just a grim relish in how brutal life can be.

Director Don Boyd admirably stated that he didn't want to make a movie which aped the almost cosy view the Americans have of mobsters.

However, this is unremittingly bleak with no-one sporting a shred of decency - just a rabid greed and damn the consequences.

Once in a while the black view of life throws up a stunning scene - such as Tracy warbling the Barry Manilow classic Mandy at her mum's wake while the killer is sliced up in the kitchen.

But Merseyside tourism promoters won't be happy, and you'll leave the cinema feeling like you've witnessed an autopsy.

Tim Evans