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Verdict: Easy on the eye, but dramatically limp.

Details: Starring Colin Firth, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Irene Jacob. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, including some nude pictures. 1 hour, 33 minutes.

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Review: If "My Life So Far" had emotional charge to match its gorgeous Scottish scenery, it could be a small classic. But under the pretty but prim direction of Hugh Hudson ("Chariots of Fire"), it's not much more than a twee highland travelogue. Robbie Norman plays 10-year-old Fraser Pettigrew, who's growing up on a beautiful Scottish estate in the 1930s with a wise grandmother (Rosemary Harris), long-suffering mother (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and nutty, Beethoven-loving father, Edward (Colin Firth). Dad likes to invent things: an inner tube propelled by paddle wheels, say, or a disastrous underground chimney system.

When Fraser isn't romping through the breathtaking landscape, he's starting to wonder about sex. He ponders erotic etchings in the library, studies the mating practices of farm animals and tries to get a handle on what "prostitution" means. His curiosity flowers all the more when his uncle (Malcolm McDowell) brings his young French fiancee, Heloise (Irene Jacob), to visit. Soon it's father and son fighting for Heloise's attention. Edward and Heloise's almost-affair is meant to be the central conflict, but the actors never spark and the stakes never seem real.

More comfortable in roles as a brooder, Firth seems uncomfortable stretching as a wacky father, while Mastrantonio has little to do. Episodic and in no hurry, "Life" throws in lovely bits of atmosphere, such as a biplane landing on the lawn or a nighttime party on a frozen pond. But in the end, the movie seems mainly to have been a good excuse for the cast and crew to write off a vacation in the Highlands.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service

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