Though Indian-born Om Puri is a talented character actor, even a performer of his talents can't save a film as clumsy and heavy-handed as "My Son the Fanatic."

Still, this veteran actor (probably best known to American audiences for his work in "Gandhi" and "The Ghost and the Darkness") does his best to salvage the movie with yet another in a string of solid performances.

But his stellar work here is undone by screenwriter Hanif Kureishi (1985's "My Beautiful Laundrette"), who makes an ill-fated attempt to recast "Pretty Woman" as a culture-clash drama. And thematically, the movie feels surprisingly religiously intolerant, right down to some cliched villainous character portrayals.

Puri stars as Parvez, a veteran taxi driver in industry-heavy northern England. Having lived there for 25 years, the Pakistani immigrant has discovered a taste for Western "decadence," such as popular music.

That doesn't sit too well with his long-suffering wife (Gopi Desai) and his son, Farid (Akbar Kurtha), who has begun to embrace Muslim beliefs (this is the main story line, which gives the film its title).

Making that problem even worse is Parvez's too-cosy relationship with Bettina (Rachel Griffiths, from "Hilary and Jackie"), a local prostitute for whom he acts as a convenient source of transportation, as well as an "agent" of sorts.

Parvez and Farid butt heads over their beliefs, and the situation finally comes to a head when the increasingly devout youth plays host to a high-ranking Muslim priest — and begins a campaign to clear out the nearby prostitutes, including Bettina.

Unfortunately for Kureishi and director Udayan Prasad (he made the little seen 1996 film, "Brothers in Trouble"), few of the characters are likable or even sympathetic.

Despite the fact that it's Puri playing him, Parvez comes across as being stubborn and selfish. And it's not like he gets much help from the supporting cast — the usually steady Griffiths seems to be phoning in her performance, which only makes their characters' contrived romance seem even more unbelievable.

Elsewhere, Kurtha is strictly one-note, as is Stellan Skarsgard, playing a sleazy German businessman whose name provides the impetus for a series of particularly cheap and unfunny jokes.

"My Son the Fanatic" is rated R for profanity, use of crude sexual slang terms and some sexual humor, violent slapping and a depiction of a riot, simulated sex acts, female nudity and male partial nudity, simulated drug use (cocaine) and use of a few ethnic slurs.