Mixed Nuts

Oh, dear. Anyone who didn't appreciate the polished sophistication of Sleepless in Seattle should be made to watch Ephron's third outing as writer and director...until they submit. This remake of a 1982 French farce, Le Père Noël est une Ordure! (d Jean-Marie Poiré, not distributed in the UK), is a disaster. Ephron's timing and sensitivity have deserted her, leaving behind only the sentimentality. It's Christmas Eve at Martin's suicide hotline service - Lifesavers - but it's the staff (Wilson, Kahn) who seem most desperately in need of help. Ephron pitches for zany, which means we have to endure a pregnant Lewis at her most hysterical, LaPaglia as a gun-toting Santa, Sandler as a ukulele-playing tee-shirt writer ('Save the Dolphins - that's one of mine'), a lovelorn transvestite and a serial killer, while the leads alternately scream and faint, as well they might.