The drug-culture comedy probably should have died at the same time as Cheech and Chong's careers, but that hasn't stopped filmmakers from revisiting the genre from time to time.

In fact, there appears to be renewed interest in the idea, judging by such witless additions to the canon as the aptly titled "Half-Baked" and the barely released "Homegrown."

Thankfully, the latest example, the British comedy "Saving Grace," isn't nearly as bad as those two films. However, it's an only sporadically amusing piece that largely wastes the talents of a cast that deserves better.

And as winningly goofy as it appears to be in the beginning, the film doesn't even come close to living up to the examples set by such similarly offbeat, character-driven British hits as "The Full Monty" and "Waking Ned Devine."

The "Grace" of the title is Grace Trevethen (two-time Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn), a middle-age widow with serious cash problems. It appears that Grace's late husband was not only cheating with another woman (Diana Quick), but he also left Grace with nothing more than a mountain of bills she is unable to pay.

That is, until she comes up with a desperate get-rich-quick scheme. Having nursed an ailing marijuana plant back to health for her gardener, Matthew (Craig Ferguson, from TV's "The Drew Carey Show," who also co-wrote the script), Grace has proven to have a real green thumb.

So she and Matthew convert her greenhouse into a hemp-only greenery, with plans to sell the buds and plants to drug dealers and then split the proceeds. Only two things stand in their way — his fisherwoman girlfriend (Valerie Edmond), who's opposed to the scheme, and the local police officer (Ken Campbell), who appears to be clueless.

It's an amusing enough — if familiar and overused — premise, which could sustain a film under normal circumstances (especially one with this cast).

But instead, it fades in the sloppy final third, when it takes a surprisingly mean-spirited and menacing turn, and then tries to make up for it with a fantasy-style ending.

Part of the problem is that screenwriters Ferguson and Mark Crowdy write their characters into situations that they can't get them out of either neatly or convincingly. As a consequence, director Nigel Cole (who makes his feature-film debut here) can't sustain the lighthearted tone he sets early on.

However, he does get good performances out of his cast, especially Blethyn, who's infinitely more likable than the material, and Ferguson, who doesn't come off as smarmy as he does on television, and who has some good chemistry with his co-star.

"Saving Grace" is rated R for frequent scenes of simulated drug use (marijuana), occasional strong profanity, vulgar humor, brief slapstick violence and fleeting, full male nudity. Running time: 93 minutes.

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