Anne Fontaine's Sons and Lovers, starring Naomi Watts, is a dull-witted sheep in wolf's clothing

Ick can happen when least expected when it somes to a tale of mothers loving each other's sons

Naomi Watts and James Frecheville in a scene from Anne Fontaine's Adoration.

Adoration

Director: Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel)

Starring: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, James Frenceville, Xavier Herbert, Ben Mendelsohn

Rated: MA15+

Review: 2 stars

As another dud year for Australian-made cinema draws to a close, up trots Adoration, a dull-witted sheep in a lascivious wolf's clothing.

Though far from the worst local offering of 2013, it has to be the most wasteful. Especially when it comes to not capitalising uponproperly using the talents of all involved.

Adapted by award-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement) from the Doris Lessing novella The Grandmothers, Adoration strides confidently on to rocky thematic ground from the get-go. The production is soon stumbling this way and that, and spends its entirerunning time doing its best not to fall flat on its face.

Naomi Watts and Robin Wright play Lil and Roz, two mothers and lifelong best friends who embark on extended affairs with each other's 17-year-old sons.

To be blunt, there is an ick factor in the mix that just won't go away in Adoration.

Though they do make an effort to manufacture a faint frown about the steamy situation once in a while, Lil and Roz largely carry on as if they have merely lent each other their best their best salad bowls. A film like this needed a sheen of authenticity to get on the right side of its audience. Despite some fair work from Watts and Wright, Adoration rarely has anyone believing such a cosy cross-family son-swap would ever come to pass. anywhere on this planet.

Static scripting (dialogue is heavy with did-they-just-say-that howlers) and stilted performances (as the loving lads, Xavier Herbert and James Frecheville often look as if they have been drugged) are the order of the day here.

Saving graces? A beautiful Australian coastal setting, and a funky moustache from co-star Ben Mendelsohn (as Wright's wronged hubby).

Otherwise, a bungled effort deserving of all the mild ridicule surely coming its way.