"You're just an old guy pretending to be a kid," says Albert Brooks' foot doctor to Michael Douglas' CIA agent, about a half-hour through this mediocre comedy.

It's a jibe that could be aimed at the jowelly star himself, but he proves surprisingly likeable as an errant 007, trying to stop the sale of a stolen nuclear sub. Brooks is equally engaging as his nervous potential in-law, inadvertently involved in international espionage.

A pity, then, that they're saddled with such a damp squibby script, which reimagines the well-liked, little seen 1979 original along more conventional genre lines. So, instead of an eccentric character laugher, hinging on the sanity of Peter Falk's is-he-or-isn't-he agent, we have a cack-handed action comedy, with the stars adrift in incompetently staged action sequences.

From the off, we're in trouble. Douglas escapes Prague in what should be a thrilling chase set-piece. Instead, it's a semi-coherent crawl, with the "Live and Let Die" theme playing apologetically in the background, reminding viewers how campy, implausible action is supposed to be shown.

Never do you believe, or care, that he or anyone else is in danger.

Ditto for every other action sequence, although the film's on firmer ground with the smaller, comic scenes. There's a chucklesome charm to the clash between the debonair Douglas and nebbish Brooks, and Candice Bergen's excellent as the former's tree-hugging ex-wife.

David Suchet, too, provides a memorable turn, but there's a cringe-inducing quality to the ha-ha-he's-homosexual humour afforded by his gay French arms dealer. Cringing, in fact, is all it's possible to do in the 'climax', which attempts to inject some emotion into events, with embarrassing results.

A buddy comedy for the middle-aged isn't a bad idea. This uncertain farce is. Don't invite "The In-Laws" to stay (ho ho).