Wait until Spring, Bandini

Too little is asked of a fine cast in this handsome but uninspiring adaptation of John Fante's autobiographical novel. Belgian director Dominique Deruddere brings a keen outsider's eye to the Colorado setting, but his grasp of the 1920s atmosphere is less assured. Joe Mantegna offers a typically bullish performance, as the unemployed bricklayer with a penchant for gambling and a deep-seated loathing of his mother-in-law, Renata Vanni. But neither Ornella Muti, as his put-upon wife, nor Faye Dunaway, as a seductive neighbour, make much of an impact, although Michael Bacall registers as the movie-mad son who cannily saves his parents' marriage.