The good news for Woody (A Film A Year) Allen fans these days is that he's managed to pump out a couple of decent movies -- Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

The bad news is that this week's release, Cassandra's Dream, is one of the misses he released in-between. The fact that it has sat on a shelf since its debut at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival tends to overstate its mediocrity (that actually has more to do with the fact that its Canadian distributor, Christal Films, went out of business).

Cassandra's Dream is, in fact, not the worst film in the Woodman's oeuvre. But it does tend to underline his weaknesses. It is one of the pure morality plays he is irresistably drawn to from time to time (the apex of which was Crimes And Misdemeanors) -- which means no jokes. It is a movie meant to ride on the charisma of its cast, in this case Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell who play brothers in working class North London.

That would be a Scotsman and an Irishman essaying a North London accent, which was a cause of much braying by English critics when this film was released Over 'Ome. This is not a weakness Allen would have even noticed, let alone addressed. And his 9-5 work ethic does not appear to be the best approach to either bad-boy actor, both of whom are capable of great performances, but neither of whom is Olivier.

In fact, neither of them is Tom Wilkinson, who elevates Cassandra's Dream in the handful of key scenes in which he appears, playing the expat Uncle Howard, a high-end Hollywood cosmetic surgeon, supposedly a millionaire from his work as facelifter-to-the-stars.

Cassandra's Dream opens with some broad-stroke character sketches. We discover that the title refers to a boat, jointly owned by brothers Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell).

Both of them are consumed by desire for the good life -- though they have different approaches to their covetous holes-in-their-souls. Terry is an inveterate gambler, who believes he will ride a roll to riches.

Ian is an aggressive gambler of another sort, a real-estate speculator who dreams of buying an L.A. hotel and believes he can achieve his dream incrementally. Both have women (Hayley Attwell and Sally Hawkins) they want to keep in a high-end lifestyle.

Both dreams are doomed. Ian ends up using his savings to keep his brother from being killed by loan-shark goons, and the two end up approaching Uncle Howard -- the family Santa Claus -- for the investment money that will lift them both out of their predicament.

But things are different this time out. Howard turns out not to be the white knight he's been made out to be, and he demands a quid pro quo for bailing out the brothers -- involving "taking care of" a business colleague who is making trouble for the financially unscrupulous surgeon.

The question becomes, how far will you go, morally, to make your dreams come true. One of the brothers turns out to have more of a conscience than the other, creating a stalemate that is addressed darkly.

The pacing of this character arc is strange, leisurely through most of the film, and oddly rushed in the mordant last act.

Cassandra's Dream seems like a rush job, with a forgettable Philip Glass soundtrack and only one lead, Wilkinson, who seems to even care about the job at hand.
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