Actress Bonnie Hunt’s first venture behind the camera is a cute romantic comedy that is surprisingly light on the romance and heavy on the comedy.  Hunt, who created her own hysterical but short-loved network sitcom (called The Bonnie Hunt Show) several years ago, shows a natural flair for comedic set-up and timing, but Return to Me isn’t as well-executed as it could have been.

The somewhat intriguing script, co-written with three other novices, focuses on Bob and Elizabeth Rueland, a happily married Chicago couple played by David Duchovny (The X-Files) and Joely Richardson (101 Dalmatians).  He’s a successful building contractor and she works with gorillas at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  The picture-perfect duo comes complete with a big house, a pair of big noses and a big dog.  One night, after a zoo fundraiser, the Ruelands are the apparent victims of a car crash (it’s not shown on screen).  Bob escapes with a few bumps and bruises, but Elizabeth doesn’t make it.

Meanwhile, far away, in another part of town, a young, single woman named Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver, An Ideal Husband) lays on her deathbed, desperately hoping to find a donor heart to extend her time limit on this mortal coil.  Her best friend Megan (Hunt, The Green Mile) watches over her in the hospital, while her grandfather Marty (Carroll O'Connor, In the Heat of the Night) and his cronies keep good thoughts for her as they run a business called O’Reilly’s Italian Restaurant (the funniest screen eatery since “The La Trattoria” from Mickey Blue Eyes).

Of course, Grace receives Elizabeth’s heart and, over a year later, she meets and falls in love with Bob.  Their romance is sweet and predictable, but the lovebirds aren’t on the screen as much as you might expect.  Instead, Return seems to spend only about one-third of its ample two-hour running time on Bob and Grace.  The remaining time is divided between Hunt’s Megan and her crazy family (including a loudmouth husband played by James Belushi), and Grandpa Marty and his elderly friends.

I kind of got the impression that Return’s romance angle didn’t play well with test audiences, who clamored for more scenes with Megan’s family and the old coots.  Don’t get me wrong; these two aspects of the film are the best it has to offer, but I’m from the school of thought that the two main characters should actually be on the screen more than anybody else.  I’m guessing that nobody is going to see this movie with the intention of hearing two Irishmen (O’Connor and Eddie Jones), an Italian (Robert Loggia) and a Pole (Wally Jatczak) argue about who the greatest crooner of all-time is – Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra or Bobby Vinton.  It kind of smacks of the opening scene in Reservoir Dogs.

Duchovny does a pretty good job trying to ditch the stiff persona of his television character but – c’mon – is he ever going to be anyone but Fox Mulder?  Driver is very likeable as Grace, perpetually embarrassed of the giant surgical scar that runs down her chest (and to think that some men pay handsome subscription rates to “Scarred Skanks” magazine).  She legitimately seems like she’s in love, while Duchovny looks like he just lost control of his bowels.

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