Mark Helfrich's misguided romantic comedy will need a lot more than good luck to compete with the hilarious Ratatouille, or even The Heartbreak Kid and Run Fat Boy Run. It will need a miracle.

Written by Josh Stolberg, Good Luck Chuck uses the ultimate male sexual fantasy (a hero granted carte blanche to sleep with as many women as he likes, no strings attached) as the catalyst for an unconvincing tale of boy meets penguin-obsessed girl.

Central to the film's numerous flaws are the two-dimensional characters, who are either brash and unlikeable, or so thinly sketched as to be almost translucent.

In many respects, this motley crew of social misfits and lovesick lunatics are perfectly matched; we just don't want to sit through their disastrous dating and mating rituals, laden with all the usual mishaps.

Dane Cook, last seen as a murder-obsessed photographer in Mr Brooks, may have the good looks but his bed-hopping bachelor quickly gets on our nerves as he curbs his lothario ways to land the woman of his dreams.

There is no discernible sexual chemistry with leading lady Jessica Alba, who demonstrates an aptness here for pratfalls (losing her footing, walking into a waiter carrying a tray of champagne flutes) and flashing her skimpy underwear.

Dentist Charlie Logan (Cook) has never found the right woman, not for wont of trying.

He dates regularly but relationships never last long, and his conquests always seem to find someone better shortly after the break-up.

During the wedding of one ex-girlfriend, Charlie is shocked when the blushing bride personally thanks him in her speech for being her lucky charm.

It transpires that he has a reputation: any girl who sleeps with him will fall madly in love with the next man she meets.

Soon, women are queuing around the block to bed Charlie and he gladly obliges, convinced he is performing a public service.

The plan hits a snag when Charlie falls madly in love with accident-prone Cam (Jessica Alba), who works at the local sealife centre.

Love blossoms, but Charlie cannot consummate the relationship because, as his best friend, breast-obsessed plastic surgeon Stu (Dan Fogler), helpfully reminds him, she's going to marry the next man she meets.

Good Luck Chuck has neither the emotional warmth nor the charm to really engage with us, or to compel us to care about the intertwined fates of Charlie and Cam.

The characters are destined to end up together and screenwriter Stolberg contrives his happy ever after, which is rushed and, fittingly, as implausible as the rest of the film.

Fogler's best friend is almost grotesque, leering over his topless female clients and doling out Neanderthal advice like the need to lie to a woman.