As is made clear form the TV commercials for The Dilemma, Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) doesn’t know what to do when he sees Nick Brannen’s (Kevin James) wife with another man. Nick is his best friend. Does he tell him? Does he keep silent? And why is this happening?

Well, it seems that Geneva, the wife, (Winona Ryder who, oddly, got her real first name from the town of Winona, MN and, in this film, also bears the name of a city) has her reasons.

Meanwhile, Ronny has been seeing Beth (Jennifer Connolly) for two years and everyone believes it time to commit. But he is hesitant.

This is the basic plot that, if you’ve seen that TV spot, isn’t exactly a mystery. And if you follow Desperate Housewives one plot point seems repetitive.

Also thrown into the mix are Queen Latifah as an improbable Chrysler Motors exec and Channing Tatum as Zip, Beth’s lover.

Billed as a rom-com with a bit of bromance thrown in, The Dilemma cannot seem to make up its mind what it wants to be. And therein lies the problem. The movie is neither here nor there…..and it wanders around trying to make up its mind for a bit too long. In fact, if I didn’t know for a fact that this was directed by Ron Howard — who’s done so many terrific films — I wouldn’t believe he’d be involved.

The saving grace that doesn’t quite do the trick is the fact that the people in the cast are all charming, and most pleasant to watch. That is good. I cannot, for example, imagine anyone not enjoying Kevin James and Vince Vaughn. They are both funny guys.

But, the best thing about The Dilemma is that Ronny and Nick are in the business of developing innovative car engines and the project on which they are working should be swiftly adopted by a real car manufacturer. That part of the film is very well done. Sadly, the rest just isn’t. What should have been a light, airy soufflé just seems to lie there like a latke.