As far as Jude Law is concerned, Breaking And Entering can be summed up in one word: catharsis.

It's the story of a successful charmer from the swish part of north London who, with things being a bit testy at home with his pretty girlfriend and her child, has a dalliance with another woman. It could be called Miller's Cross.

Law is unsurprisingly convincing as Will, an architect overseeing an ambitious urban development in Kings Cross with his partner Sandy (the ever-likeable Freeman).

Their unguarded, Apple-packed headquarters make the perfect target for a gang of East European thieves whose point man is acrobatic 15-year-old Miro (newcomer Rafi Gavron). He is rewarded with a nice piece of kit after the first break-in.

"My whole life is on that laptop!" wails Will, starting the film's avalanche of implausibilities. Probably not a good idea to leave it at the office, then.

This is all he needs, since his relationship with half-American/half-Swede Liv (Wright Penn) is crumbling after 10 years of unwedded bliss and Liv's daughter from a previous union is showing signs of autism. (Strangely, she doesn't understand the term "fed up" but uses contradictory youth-speak like "shut up".)

Instead of hiring a nightwatchman, a second robbery prompts Will and Sandy to conduct a stakeout, during which they strike up amusing but pointless camaraderie with a foreign prostitute (Vera Farmiga, fresh from Scorsese's The Departed).

When Will spots Miro trying to get lucky for an improbable third time, the chase leads to the flat where Miro has lived with his mother Amira (Binoche) since they fled from Sarajevo. Recognising them, Will backs off.

A contrived series of events finds Will befriending the alluring Amira without Miro's knowledge. Ultimately, they all have a lot of explaining to do.

The acting is fine but the only exchanges that really ring true come between Will and Liv - and even those wisps of credibility are blown away by Minghella's preposterous ending.

Unwisely straying from the romantic stuff, his first solo script since Truly Madly Deeply raises the thorny issues of immigration, crime and prejudice then pussyfoots around the lot.

Ray Winstone's copper dispenses wisdom with all the worldliness of Hello! magazine and the potentially juicy relationship between Sandy and the African cleaner he fancies is practically abandoned.

A must-to-avoid for cynics, this is drama with the safety catch on.

Elliott Noble