EMILE Gaudreault's pink-tinged romantic comedy, adapted from Steve Galluccio's stage play, could be crudely dubbed My Big Fat Gay Wedding.

However, such easy and favourable comparisons with Nia Vardalos' culture clash confection would be unfair.

Mambo Italiano peddles stereotypes and doesn't have the courage of its convictions, settling for easy laughs at the expense of honest, heartfelt emotion.

Italian immigrants Gino (Sorvino) and Maria Barberini (Reno) are pillars of their community in their adoptive home of Montreal.

Family means everything to them, especially their children Angelo (Kirby) and Anna (Ferri), who both still live at home where Gino and Maria can keep a close eye on them.

The old timers' picture postcard world shatters when Angelo announces that he intends to leave home and get his own place.

Maria's distress, which can be heard on the other side of the city, is somewhat assuaged when Angelo's childhood buddy Nino Paventi (Miller), a well-respected cop, agrees to move in with him.

However, the living arrangement is more than just convenient - Angelo and Nino are secret gay lovers, not that either man has any intention of coming out of the closet.

When the truth about Angelo's sexuality finally emerges, all hell breaks loose.

Desperate to keep up appearances as a macho cop, Nino maintains the charade of heterosexuality.

Meanwhile, Gino and Maria feel certain that the love of a woman will straighten out their confused son and they let loose predatory temptress Pina (Lorain) on their unsuspecting boy.

There's the seed of a good idea in Mambo Italiano and, for the first 20 minutes at least, the film traipses along with some smart one-liners.

Unfortunately, once Angelo is outted, the film falls apart, bordering on the offensive in its treatment of the various communities who inhabit the film.

It's no surprise that Gino and Maria refuse to believe their son is gay, considering the complete absence of sexual tension between Kirby and Miller.

Ferri is mildly diverting as the sister desperate to escape her family and the supporting cast has its moments - if you can bear to look for them.

DAMON SMITH