Writer/director David Kane's Born Romantic is the kind of British romantic comedy you see at a festival and walk out thinking it could be funny, lighthearted and appealing enough to be the next The Full Monty. Then, after you think about it for a while, or, God forbid, see it again, you realize how little meat it has on its bones. That's not to say it's not enjoyable, entertaining and well-acted - just empty and routine. 

Romantic consists of three intertwining stories about men pursing women in and around a London Salsa club. The stories are held together by Jimmy (Adrian Lester, Love's Labour's Lost), a cabbie responsible for shuttling the characters around the city (you might think he's the only hack in London, if you don't count Arsenal's Patrick Viera). He chats with two co-workers at Kismet Cabs (John Thomson and Spring Forward's Ian Hart) during their breaks, providing the film with a fairly interesting Greek chorus. 

Here's a rundown of the men who are unlucky in love (but, if you've got half a brain, you know they'll end up happier than John Ashcroft at a Bob Jones University-sponsored Ku Klux Klan rally): 

• Frankie (Craig Ferguson, Saving Grace) is a businessman who is divorced but still living with his shrewish ex-wife (Hermoine Norris) until their house, which is slowly sinking into the ground, is sold. He meets and falls in love with the beautiful Eleanor (Olivia Williams, The Sixth Sense), who, of course, wants nothing to do with him. 

• Fergus (David Morrissey, Hilary and Jackie) is a struggling musician who has returned to London after a six-year absence to find his long-lost love, the sex-craved museum lover, Mo (Jane Horrocks, Little Voice).

• Eddie (Jimi Mistry) is a clumsy criminal who hides out in the Salsa club after a botched ATM robbery attempt. He picks the pocket of a mousy girl named Jocelyn (Catherine McCormack, Shadow of the Vampire), but ends up falling for her. 

And that's pretty much it. None of the characters are wacky enough to be unbelievable, except possibly Jocelyn, who wears a neck-brace and runs a funeral plot maintenance business called Loved Ones Limited. There's a lot of dancing, a lot of chasing, and one strange gag about putting hot sauce on a certain part of the male anatomy. 

Kane made a bit of a name for himself with 1999's This Year's Love (which also starred Hart and McCormack - and was unreleased in the U.S.), nabbing a British Independent Film Award for his screenplay. Romantic is nicely structured, but is ultimately predictable - a frustrating fact that you've probably come to accept from mainstream Hollywood romantic comedies, but may still be disappointed to see in indie films like this. Robert Alazraki (The Closer You Get - another disappointing British rom-com with Mr. Hart) provides nice photography, adding enough red hues to the Salsa club scenes to make you seem like you're at a Tijuana donkey show.

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