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Spoof romance Date Movie offers couples a cheap night out - at least where the gags are concerned. Brought to you by "two of the six writers" of Scary Movie (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer), it's another jumble of throwaway skits that'll have you gritting your teeth in embarrassment more often than Ben Stiller in yet another rom-com. At the centre of all this desperate groping for laughs, American Pie's Alyson Hannigan only just about retains her dignity.

For the opening gambit she gyrates in a jiggling fat suit, which is the first sure sign that Friedberg and Seltzer are lean on ideas. But it's My Big Fat Greek Wedding that provides the basic premise. Julia Jones feels constrained by her parents' insistence that she marry within her Greek-African-American-Indian-Japanese heritage, especially when she meets foppish Englishman Grant Fonckyerdoder. He's played by newcomer Adam Campbell, who does have a couple of funny moments, but is otherwise a bland presence.

"PAINFULLY DRAGGED OUT"

Campbell and Hannigan are at their best in a deadpan riff on the marriage-counselling scene from Mr & Mrs Smith. However, for every one vaguely amusing moment there are ten others that are just really annoying. Friedberg and Seltzer tend to flog a joke to death JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT, like Campbell going blue in the face trying to outdo Meg Ryan in the faked orgasm stakes. Even the most obvious gags, like a cat voiding its bowels, are painfully dragged out. For anyone over 12 years old, this is a date to be missed.