Return to Me (M)
Director: Bonnie Hunt
Starring: David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Bonnie Hunt, James Belushi, Carroll O'Connor
Rating: 3.5 stars
Same old story makes for some old gold

I often receive letter letters from older filmgoers expressing frustration about how few movies are being made for their tastes and preferences.

By and large, I agree with them. Apart from the occasional all-ager such as Tea with Mussolini, Waking Ned Divine or Life is Beautiful, this (very large) sub-group of viewers must feel as if they are watching films beamed in from another planet. They find it hard to relate to the language and subject matter and most importantly of all, the characters.

If you count yourself among one of these aggrieved, then I recommend you check out Return to Me. It is a superbly crafter romantic drama-comedy, featuring writing and characterisations that will strongly appeal to those who couldn't care less who isn't taking whom to the prom.

The main storyline - of a construction foreman (David Duchovny) who falls in love with the transplant recipient (Minnie Driver) of his late wife's heart - is a little light, inoffensively pleasing concoction that plays itself out to a credible end. The movie just feels right on the money, whatever it turns its hand to.

Writer-director Bonnie Hunt has a real affinity for the spirit of friendship and community that links everyone in the plot together. For evidence of this, look no further than the contributions of Carroll O'Connor and a number of other veteran actors who fill the minor roles on offer here.

All of them, including Hunt and James Belushi as a bickering/loving married couple, are in complete sync with the gentle, joshing sense of humour laced through the script.

For fully delivering what little it promises, and for staying just the right side of corny until the happy ending looms in sight, I find it very hard to knock Return to Me.

I'm glad it does what it does so well, and I'm also sure that a number of other viewers much older than myself will walk away from this small gem of a movie feeling exactly the same way.