DIRECTOR Peter Cattaneo has given himself four years to follow up the unexpected rise and rise of The Full Monty. It was never going to be easy but he has taken the soft, complacent option: a variation on the Monty theme of lads bonding in adversity through music and dance.

Last time, the men had lost their jobs and took up stripping in the steel city of Sheffield; this time they have lost their liberty and are serving time in the middle of a northern nowhere.

Hapless but cocky Irish armed robber Jimmy (Cold Feet's James Nesbitt) has just been transferred from Wormwood Scrubs to this remote institution, run by a self-important governor (Christopher Plummer) who shares his love of musicals.

Sporting his usual smug Irish accent, offensive charm and hang-dog expressions but newly equipped with a dodgy fringe, Nesbitt's Jimmy is the clichd rebel with a heart of gold. Always in trouble, he plans a daring escape under cover of mounting the governor's ghastly musical tribute to Nelson but is torn by his romantic feelings for the prison support unit's officer, the psycho-babbling psychologist Annabel (Olivia Williams).

As with The Full Monty, Cattaneo seeks to balance laughter with tears, a sentimental trick beloved of too many British film makers. So, on the one hand, Lucky Break has Nesbitt's Jimmy, Bill Nighy's posh fraudster and a liberal, wet drama teacher, and on the other, a tragic subplot involving Timothy Spall's emotionally-abused inmate. Screwed up by a vindictive screw (Ron Cook), Spall is as spell-binding as ever, the best British player of one of life's losers, but his brilliance is wasted in such trite company.

As was the message in The Full Monty, everyone deserves a second chance, everyone that is except the prison hard-case, the tough-nut, corrupt chief of security... and, alas, this lazy film's repeat of the Monty ingredients.

Too many characters and situations are implausible - you surely wouldn't find such a tame, gentle set of cons in any prison. The stodgy prison banter lacks the wit of Porridge, and even the escape is as lacking in tension as this summer's General Election night. Only Stephen Fry's book and lyrics for the governor's terrible play, Nelson - The Musical provide mild amusement.

The Full Monty may have been a lucky break for Peter Cattaneo but, by comparison, the camp prison comedy Lucky Break is criminally bad.