There's something wrong with a movie when the most memorable and endearing character is a bulldog that has about a minute of screen time. That is the case for In the Land of Women.

The movie stars Adam Brody (The O.C.) as a soft-core porn screenwriter who's dumped by his girlfriend. To get away from his misery, he moves in with his grandmother, who is convinced that she is dying.

In the suburbs of Michigan he meets his neighbor Sarah, played by Meg Ryan (Kate & Leopold), and her two daughters.

Ryan and Brody bond during long dog walks (enter the aforementioned scene-stealing bulldog) and become more and more involved in each other's lives. Ryan eventually reveals her problems with her adulterous husband, angry teenage daughter and an illness that makes her realize she's not happy with her life. Brody, in turn, bemoans his troubles with women and his recent breakup.

The movie follows the characters as they deal with cancer and family relationships.

Women -- a character-driven movie -- has very little plot, so it needed strong dialogue, actors and directing. It failed on all counts.

What little plot the movie had passed over original material and entered into hackneyed soon after the opening credits rolled. A mopey young man gets involved with the different generations of women living next door. If you think it's a compelling story, save your money and rent The Graduate.

While there are a few moments where the film captures and explores real human emotion in an interesting way, the scenes quickly descend into melodrama.

The writing, in general, was mediocre at best. The dialogue fell flat and the characters were unacceptably weak for the type of movie that it tried to be.

It had every stock character in the industry from the stifled suburban housewife whose supposedly perfect life is not what it seems, to the angry rebellious teenager who hates her mother and sulks around all the time.

The only interesting character in the movie is the slightly insane grandmother who pops handfuls of tranquilizers and answers the door without pants on.

The actors had no chance to salvage the movie, so for the most part it wasn't their fault that they didn't shine in their roles. But the acting can only be described as adequate.

Brody was decently charming and was probably the only thing that saved the movie from complete failure. He has an easy delivery and obvious charisma that will help him if he makes better choices in his scripts.

Kristen Stewart (Panic Room), as the resentful daughter, plays the role without distinction, but thankfully she doesn't detract from the film.

Ryan was a disappointment. Known for her light romantic comedies, she could have taken her first role as an older woman and made it into something unique and powerful. However, like usual, she reverted to a superficial portrayal of an already superficially written character.

The biggest problem with the movie, though, is the directing. It's jumpy -- leaving the audience with no sense of time and it is agonizingly slow. The transitions between scenes, which probably seemed innovative, are disorienting. The pace is sluggish and without interesting characters and dialogue it becomes boring.

Women could have been a compelling look at the complexity involved in human relationships, but it came out instead as a sappy melodrama that will quickly fade into obscurity.

Grade D+