Hot stuff stirs but lacks spice

The occasion, because in Hollywood star terms it is an occasion, should have caused the sort of on-screen explosion that occurred when Bette Davis and Joan Crawford appeared together in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? for instance. If you are going to cast superstars they should be used to the full. But Mann has constructed his film so that the two men only meet twice, once in the middle and then at the end for the big showdown, and for much of the time they are acting in what are in effect two different films.

When you cast two superstars in the same film, if they do not share the screen for much of the time, they have to be given a plot which provides them with equal chances to shine. It is meeting this requirement that has led Mann to inflate his film way beyond its just desserts. At just under three hours it is far too long. That is not to say he has created a damp squib of a movie, because large sections are very exciting indeed, but he has been forced to take attention away from his central storyline, which is both original and intriguing, in order to justify their presence.

De Niro is the mastermind behind a series of bank robberies, Pacino the Los Angeles policeman hunting him down. The police, who know the gang is up to something, set up a surveillance operation only to have the tables turned when the gang realises it is being watched and sets up its own surveillance on the police. The watchers are watched. So far, so good.

Interesting too is the way the two men are treated as different sides of the same coin. Both are professionals. Both are dedicated to their jobs. They respect one another. The trouble arises with their respective sub plots which prove to be so much padding.

Mann's ingenuity has deserted him and he has come up with two very banal, boring storylines. Pacino gets to do the old, old story about the man whose wife doesn't understand him and is resentful at having to keep his dinner hot in the oven because he is always late at the office. De Niro gets the equally well-worn tale of the bad man redeemed by the love of a good woman.

The main plot involves a thrilling hold-up of an armoured truck carrying securities to the bank, a couple of revenge killings, a killer on the loose, and a final street battle of operatic proportions, when the big robbery goes wrong. The scene half-way through when the two stars finally meet in a drive-in cafe and talk about life is beautifully played, as indeed is their encounter at the end.

However, Mann has not provided them with challenging material and, as a result both, being professionals, do what they are accustomed to do with the rest of the film; they do not exactly walk through it in their sleep, but they have played these parts before.

The film has pretensions to examine the relationship between those who break the law and those who enforce it, which it never fulfils, and works best when it is simply being an action movie. After all the sound and fury, of which it has a great deal, has died down, Mann's film is simply a case of the earth failing to move and the vaunted superstar pairing very much one of ``So what?''

In Father of the Bride II Steve Martin returns to the role of George Banks, the doting Californian dad last seen coping with the fact that his beloved daughter Annie was getting married. Now he has to cope with the fact she is having a baby. This gives him a middle- age crisis. He dyes his hair, joins an exercise class, and sells the family home to move to the beach and start a new life. Unfortunately he also gets Mrs Banks (Diane Keaton) pregnant so that mother and daughter are expecting at the same time.

Directed by Charles Shyer, the film is glossy, slick, sentimental and silly. Nobody in it behaves like an adult, although to describe their behaviour as childish would be to insult children. Martin's deficiencies as an actor are woefully apparent whenever he is required to deliver a monologue to camera about his inner feelings.

However, the film's worst fault is to set up jokes without any regard for logic. Daughter has fight with husband, comes to stay and father offers to make up a bed for her on the couch - this in a house which, judging by the exterior, has at least seven bedrooms and in which she once lived and must have had a room of her own. Mr and Mrs Banks, homeless, house sit for their in-laws who have gone on holiday leaving them to take care of their two dobermans, which in Father of the Bride took exception to George. They go to bed and there on the counterpane are the dogs who refuse to let George sleep in it. Does he move to another room? Does Mrs Banks, who is allowed into bed, suggest they move elswhere? No. He lies down on the floor instead and they end up sleeping there.

Keaton looks lovely and smiles a lot - she could be grinning and bearing it - Kimberley Williams is charming as Annie, and Eugene Levy (Kevin Kline in disguise?) does a nice turn as the Arab who buys the Banks home, but the best thing about it is the soundtrack which has some fine songs, especially the opening number Give Me The Simple Life sung by Steve Tyrrel.

In Chris Newby's Madagascar Skin John Hannah plays Harry, a shy young homosexual with a birthmark on his face shaped like the island. Unhappy with his life in London, he flees to Wales where he meets Flint (Bernard Hill) a man of mystery and falls in love with him. It is beautifully photographed in glowing colour and vey well acted.

The growing relationship between the two men as they set up house in a derelict cottage furnished by Flint with pieces stolen from an empty mansion, is diverting to watch. Gay movies tend to be rather doom laden affairs, but this is both romantic and funny which makes a refreshing change.

Heat (15), directed by Michael Mann

Father of the Bride II (PG), directed by Charles Shyer

On general release.

Madagascar Skin (15), directed by Chris Newby

Filmhouse, Edinburgh.

All films open Friday.

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