Unfortunately the film never gets quite so airborne, despite the vocation of central character Nick Murder (James Gandolfini). Murder is an ironworker who can often be found high above the traffic of the Brooklyn Bridge, tightening rivets as he casually discusses the pros and cons of circumcision with his oily sidekick Angelo (Steve Buscemi).

Murder is going through something of a mid-life crisis - indeed, many of the cast are there or thereabouts. His dormant marriage with Kitty (Susan Sarandon) previously produced three children, now all budding punk chicks, but along the way temptation has snared the man of the house in the curvy form of Kate Winslet's character Tula. She works in Agent Provocateur or, as she so eloquently puts it, "I sell fuck bloomers!".

Murder, however, is far from satisfied. His wife throws ceaseless vitriol his way, for she knows about his infidelity. The three sisters support her in this, but when her back is turned try to help, by cooking him ghastly mince burgers and leaving him free to overdose on 4lbs of liquorice in front of the boxing.

As the story progresses, in shakily told form, a new horror is spawned - the musical. Quite how this is supposed to aid the plot is a mystery, with each reminiscence blown out of all proportion, the characters lip-synching their way through some admittedly top drawer tunes - Tom Jones's Delilah is invoked memorably - the end result something akin to one of those awful sing-along butter adverts. Sarandon does it, Gandolfini does it, even (and especially) Christopher Walken does it, hilarious as Kitty's flamboyant cousin Bo, a man with ants in his high-waisted pants.

The film 'settles' into an increasingly numbing formula of brief character revelation and song, with all cast members involved. The couple's daughter Baby (a sweetly innocent Mandy Moore) announces her engagement to her parents' dismay, the neighbours shovel snow at the house and eventually Murder's face, and yet somehow the family survive in the same home.

And then suddenly, out from the mire, a semblance of story is recovered, the music thankfully retreats to the background and there's even room for an emotive if drawn-out ending.

As the main character, Gandolfini is curiously likeable, even if he does resemble an inflated Robert De Niro at times. Kate Winslet renews her acquaintance with flame red hair as seen in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, only more brazen and curvaceous this time - "one crude broad" as Murder memorably describes her. Buscemi steals most of the scenes to which he contributes, an exchange with Murder's mother one of the film's genuinely funny moments. And Sarandon is good, too, as the put-upon wife who wants to fight back but needs the over-the-top assistance Walken has to offer, not to mention a brief supporting role from Eddie Izzard as a church organist.

Overall, however, it's a puzzling film that can't quite decide how it wants to proceed. The saving grace is the soundtrack - even if you lose the will to live in the musical bits, the widescreen belters will see you through.

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