Broad strokes don't paint 'The In-Laws' in a good enough light

Amusing, if seldom quite funny, the new remake of "The In-Laws" entertains while too often assuming that broad, frantic behavior and big action set pieces translate into belly laughs.

Originally to be called "Till Death Do Us Part" and then "The Wedding Party," the new film finally reverted to the title used by the original in 1979, "The In-Laws." All character names have changed.

In the first version, Alan Arkin was a dentist whose daughter was to marry the son of a creepy government agent played by Peter Falk. Arkin was sucked into the vortex of Falk's life-imperiling antics, all of them exacerbated by the sense Falk's character was too incompetent or irrational to cope with situations he generated.

The remake was to team Michael Douglas with Billy Crystal, but delays included rewrites after 9/11 (as it plays now, a torpedo threatens Chicago), and Crystal, who withdrew to fulfill his commitment to "Analyze That," was replaced by Albert Brooks.

The new version is bigger and brasher, but it doesn't play as well, partly because the slick but unamusing Douglas acts so self-confident and apparently competent a government operative. We never doubt that his Steve Tobias is closer to James Bond than he is to, say, Inspector Jacques Clouseau or a bumbling Falk. He's not humorously obnoxious or inept.

The harried doctor in the new screenplay by Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon has put aside teeth for feet.

Jerry Peyser (Brooks) was Chicago's podiatrist of the year three times running.

As he, more than wife Katherine (Maria Ricossa), organizes the imminent wedding of daughter Melissa (Lindsay Sloane) to Mark Tobias (Ryan Reynolds), Mark's acrimoniously divorced parents, Steve and Judy (Candice Bergen) enter their orbit.

Bergen, too briefly visible here, continues to have fun with comic supporting parts as in "View From the Top," "Miss Congeniality" and "Sweet Home Alabama." Would someone give her a real role, though, please•

A less combustible pairing than Arkin and Falk, Douglas and Brooks work best when the nebbish Jerry is coping with anxiety or his security blanket, which takes the form of a thoughtfully stocked fanny pack.

There's not much comedy to be mined any more in stunts and explosions, covert operations, a Russian refugee named Olga or a platoon of incompetent FBI agents led by Will Hutchins (Russell Andrews).

Nor in anything involving Steve's professional partner Angela Harris (Robin Tunney).

There's an amusing notion in Jerry finding himself aboard Barbra Streisand's private jet, if it's really hers, but typically, little is made of it.

You get the feeling that political correctness impeded the characterization of arms dealer Jean-Pierre Thibodoux (David Suchet) as a gay man attracted to Jerry.

Instead of working on the mismatching of personalities in the central relationship, "The In-Laws" thinks big, scrambling for sources of manic energy rather than subtle accomplishment.

One thing never stops -- the flow of 35 hit recordings, including Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die," Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never," and an appearance by KC and the Sunshine Band doing "Get Down Tonight."

You can always tell when an omnibus song soundtrack is lurking.

Additional Information:

Movie Details

'The In-Laws'

Director: Andrew Fleming.

Stars: Michael Douglas, Albert Brooks, Candice Bergen.

MPAA rating: PG-13, for suggestive humor, language, some drug references and action violence.