Call it the "Friends" curse. For whatever reason the stars of television's most popular sitcom just don't make good motion pictures. And to be honest, they usually haven't been very good in these films, either.

Oh, there have been a handful of exceptions — as a supporting performer, Lisa Kudrow was a real hoot in the indie favorite "The Opposite of Sex," while Courteney Cox made her splash in the "Scream" movies. But surprisingly, the funniest member of the "Friends" cast, Matthew Perry, has been perhaps the least successful of the bunch, cinematically.

Perry, with his neurotic persona, made an inauspicious starring debut in the romantic dud "Fools Rush In" — and the awful "Almost Heroes" took him even lower. And while "Three to Tango" is certainly better than the latter, this unfunny romantic comedy just doesn't give Perry enough to do, aside from acting exasperated and fumbling for some sort of chemistry with co-star Neve Campbell.

He plays Oscar Novak, a young Chicago architect who appears to be on the verge of getting his big break. Tycoon Charles Newman (Dylan McDermott, from TV's "The Practice") agrees to let Oscar and his partner, Peter Steinberg (Oliver Platt), compete for a lucrative design contract.

However, as you might have guessed, there's a catch. Charles believes that Oscar and Peter are partners — both businesswise and romantically. So he browbeats Oscar into keeping tabs on his mistress, Amy Post (Campbell), believing he'll be immune to her charms.

Oscar doesn't realize that people think he's gay, apparently a common misperception, and he makes the mistake of falling for the flirty artist. And Amy, who also believes Oscar is gay, moves in with her new best friend.

This leaves Oscar with an obvious dilemma — should he come clean with the woman of his dreams or play along with the ruse to get the design contract?

The premise seems rife with comic possibilities but screenwriters Rodney Vaccaro and Aline Brosh McKenna instead go for cheap laughs (including some needless sexual humor), and first-time filmmaker Damon Santostefano can't decide what tone to settle on.

His tentative direction also contributes nothing to the cast's performances. Perry seems almost listless, as if he's waiting for something funny to do or say. As his romantic interest, Campbell is bland, even uninteresting.

The supporting performances are also a mixed bag. The dependable Platt gets the film's biggest laughs, suggesting the film should have been about him instead. But McDermott looks uninterested in the whole affair.

"Three to Tango" is rated PG-13 for profanity (including the so-called "R-rated" curse word), crude sexual talk and use of some vulgar slang terms, close-ups of nude photos and some slapstick violence.