WONDERING what became of that old flame is something we are all guilty of once in a while.

Did they marry? Are they fat? Did they ever learn to screw the cap back on the toothpaste or do they still leave it to ooze out all over the side of the washbasin?

In Nick Hornby's Hi Fidelity, his protagonist has the irresistible quest of revisiting old lovers as a means of discovering why he is continually unlucky in love.

And Broken Flowers has much the same premise, with ageing Casanova Don Johnston (Bill Murray) embarking on a cross-country journey to find out the fate of four old flames.

What sets him off on his travels is a mysterious pink letter saying he has a 19-year-old son who may soon be turning up on his doorstep.

The idea of revisiting lovers of yesteryear could generate laughter while tugging on the heartstrings but this film does not justifiably do either.

Without question Murray is the king of deadpan, but in Broken Flowers he fails to combine it with the emotional torment so evident in Lost in Translation.

The result is a character that really doesn't care about his old lovers, or even the possibility of having a son.

What is also lacking is any background to what the women were like in their heyday, which means you never really know whether Johnston expected them to turn out the way they did, or not.

A handful of good performances though save this film from being entirely disappointing.

EB