Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is a divorced, straight-laced, uptight lawyer who still loves his ex-wife and still doesn't know why she left him.

That's the premise for a much-vaunted comedy marking the star's return to mainstream comedy.

It's not an entirely successful move; Adam Shankman's film is formulaic rather than fresh; stereotypical rather than hysterical.

Sanderson is a man with little time for a social life or for his two children. His only outlet is an online relationship with a "chat buddy" he thinks is a buxom, blonde lawyer.

He finally makes a date to meet his cyber-chum in person. To his dismay, she turns out to be a ghetto diva named Charlene (rap star Queen Latifah), a convict who claims to have been framed for a crime and wants him to help clear her name.

In a situation reminiscent of Housesitter, an earlier Martin vehicle, Sanderson wants Charlene out of his house and his life. But the woman is not to be ignored - especially when her presence threatens to ruin his efforts to win a billion-dollar client.

Is Charlene really all bad? Of course not; that would be prejudicial. She's a misguided angel in disguise and soon she is showing Sanderson the error of his ways and in the process helping his family come back together.

Martin, meanwhile, tries to get hip by putting on a tracksuit and jewellery to "get down with the brothers" at a local nightclub.

However, it's Latifah who emerges from beneath the sugar mountain with most credit. We last saw her playing Matron Mama Morton in Chicago, a role for which she was Oscar-nominated. On this combined evidence we'll be seeing a good deal more of her yet.

Starring Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Jean Smart

Updated: 09:47 Friday, May 30, 2003