MOBSTERS AND MORMONS — ** 1/2 — Mark DeCarlo, Scott Christopher, Jeanette Puhich; rated PG (violence, vulgarity, mild profanity, brief drugs, ethnic slurs).

"Mobsters and Mormons" is a considerable improvement over the other comedies produced by HaleStorm Entertainment ("The Singles Ward," "The R.M.," "The Home Teachers") — especially with regard to the film's humor.

This time around, there's a concerted effort to earn real, honest-to-goodness laughs, rather than just lazily offering specific Mormon-culture in-jokes.

Of course, it would be nice if more of the jokes here were actually funny. Much of the humor in "Mobsters" revolves around obvious cultural differences between Utah's LDS population and Italian-Americans. Fortunately, most of the jabs are generally good-natured, and the cast is pretty likable.

That includes Mark DeCarlo, who stars as Carmine "The Beans" Pasquale, a low-level mobster in New Jersey. After Carmine turns state's evidence against the mob, he and his family are sent to Utah as part of the Witness Protection Program.

The Pasquales, now known as the Cheesemans, don't really fit in well in their new, highly LDS neighborhood in Utah County. But that doesn't stop their next-door neighbor Michael Jaymes (Scott Christopher) from trying to befriend Carmine — now known as George. And "George" doesn't mind taking full advantage of Michael's generosity.

In the meantime "George's" wife, Gina (Jeanette Puhich), and son Vincent (Clay Taylor) are at least trying harder. In particular, Vincent has struck up a friendship with Julie (Oleysa Rulin), Michael's younger sister.

As expected, there's additional conflict when Carmine's former bosses send hitmen to track him down.

Director John Moyer's script isn't exactly filled with surprises; to say it's predictable is an understatement. But among his better decisions is using Christopher in a strictly dramatic capacity. He can be an irritant when he's trying to be funny (witness his supporting bits in "The Singles Ward" and "The R.M."), but here he effectively plays a nice guy.

Moyer is also smart to let DeCarlo take the comic load. Although you might wish he'd told Puhich to tone down her too-broad accent, which was clearly modeled after Edie Falco in HBO's "The Sopranos."

"Mobsters and Mormons" is rated PG for violence (mostly slapstick, as well as some vehicular violence and explosive mayhem), some crude humor (including some digestive humor), scattered use of mild profanity (religiously based), brief drug content (some joking references), and use of some ethnic slurs. Running time: 98 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com