The Whole Ten Yards

(Herald rating * *)

Well, they couldn't really follow the industry standard and call it The Whole Nine Yards: 2, could they? This sequel to one of mainstream Hollywood's better black comedies takes place four years after the original.

This was about a neurotic dentist and his hygienist wife, and their neighbours, a contract killer and his wife, in a Canadian suburb. By the end of that movie the couples had swapped addresses and partners.

There have been more moves in the time away. The killer, Jimmy Tudeski (Bruce Willis), and his new partner, Jill (Amanda Peet), have moved to Mexico, where she's fulfilled in her new role as assassin and Jimmy has become her fussing househusband.

The dentist, Oz, (Matthew Perry) and his new wife/Jimmy's ex, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge), are back in the US and expecting a baby. Oz has given up the tooth lark to become a paranoid survivalist.

Back into the frame-up comes Lazlo Gogolak (Kevin Pollak), the notorious crime boss. When he's released from prison, he kidnaps Cynthia and goes after Jimmy, who killed his son Yanni (also Pollak) in the first film.

Which seems a pretty good set-up, apart from one minor problem. The Whole Nine Yards was a mildly entertaining video, the sort of thing you might rent to fill in the time before the test on a Saturday night when there's nothing else on TV. There's about as much call for extending the exercise as there was with Analyze This/That. And everyone involved is running around and trying to be funny when the script ain't. Except for Amanda Peet, who adds a little insanity and some class to the show.

There's little to recommend the DVD version. The only extra is a commentary from director Howard Deutch and writer George Gallo in which they 'fess up to the fact that they pretty much made it up as they went along. It shows.

DVD, video rental Today