Taking the premise of a dozen old screwball comedies (think Myrna Loy and William Powell), "Mr. Wonderful" starts off with great promise, then gradually runs out of steam, wasting a very talented but woefully underused cast.

The setting is New York City, where Consolidated Edison worker Matt Dillon pays his ex-wife Annabella Sciorra so much alimony that he can't afford to go in on an investment opportunity. So, he vows to find a "Mr. Wonderful" for her, hoping she'll get married and blow off his alimony.

Sciorra already has a boyfriend, one of her college professors (William Hurt). But wouldn't you know it, he's married! So, she agrees to date the guys that Dillon sends her way — though none of them work out.

This would seem to have great potential for fast-paced farce. But the comic possibilities are almost entirely overlooked as the film instead goes for a leisurely, low-key "Singles" approach, failing to build up any of the charm that kept that film alive.

Meanwhile, Dillon's girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker) is pressuring him to commit. Not to marriage, mind you. This is the '90s, after all. She wants Dillon to share an apartment with her.

But, as if you didn't know, the crimp in all of this is that Dillon still loves Sciorra. And, we suspect, Sciorra still loves him. But in this context, love means never having to say anything unless you're yelling.

The film's supporting characters are largely blue-collar workers, down-to-earth folk played by some very entertaining actors who are not in the film nearly enough.

There is also a nice, albeit artificial touch about two lonely people answering a newspaper "per-son-als" ad. Dillon enters the Botanical Gardens looking for Sciorra and runs into Jessica Harper (where's she been lately?), who anxiously asks if he's "Mr. Wonderful," the fellow who answered her ad.

This brief image of Harper is so sweet and unexpected that you may wish the film followed her story instead of Dillon's.

Despite some amusing and even a few truthful moments, "Mr. Wonderful" is largely a misfire, labored and dull in too many long stretches.

It is rated PG-13 for sex, profanity, vulgarity and violence.