To the film's credit, few grandson-grandmother relationships have been portrayed as lovingly and realistically in movies as the one in "Soul Food." But that relationship is only part of an otherwise unfulfilling drama.

Instead, the focus of the film is on Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) and Bird (Nia Long), the three squabbling daughters of family matriarch Mother Joe (Irma P. Hall). Unfortunately, the three aren't nearly as interesting as the film pretends they are and consequently "Soul Food" is only sporadically interesting.

Actually, the biggest problem is in the casting of the leads. Fox isn't convincing as a mother of three, Long is just shrill and Williams, playing a career-obsessed attorney, is the least believable of the bunch. And let's not forget the major gaffe first-time writer/director George Tillman Jr. commits by killing off the most interesting character before his film is even half over.

"Soul Food" actually plays out like a soap opera, much as "Waiting to Exhale" did before it, as the three sisters fight with each other, their husbands and extended relatives — even when their aging mother becomes ill and falls into a diabetic coma.

Instead of bringing the family together, as you'd expect, it forces them apart. Teri's iciness pushes her husband, Miles (Michael Beach), an aspiring musician, into the arms of her black-sheep cousin Faith (Gina Ravera). Meanwhile, a misunderstanding between Bird and her ex-con husband Lem (Mekhi Phifer) sends him back to the slammer.

Of the whole family, only Maxine's son Ahmad (Brandon Hammond, who also narrates) seems to be unscathed. He remains steadfast in his belief that Mother Joe will recover, but on her deathbed she gives him the responsibility of getting family members to resolve their differences — by getting them together for the traditional Sunday dinner.

As you can probably predict, the film's ending is pure schmaltz. It also seems unconvincing and out of place, considering all the downbeat action that has come before.

It doesn't help that two of the three leads (Williams and Fox) don't have the necessary acting range for this type of material. That's not to say all of the acting is terrible, though. The male leads are much better than their female counterparts, and scenes with Hammond and Hall have genuine spark.

But that relationship is given short shrift in favor of "developing" other characters and situations, and Tillman the writer isn't quite up to that task. In fact, most of his dialogue sounds like it came straight out of a mediocre made-for-cable drama.

"Soul Food" is rated R for profanity, violence, a couple of sex scenes, partial nudity, a few scattered racial epithets and some vulgar references.