"Kingdom Come" is yet another sad example of a seemingly can't-miss movie that somehow misses the mark — and rather badly.

There are quite a few films that could have benefited from the all-star cast this one has — among the biggest names are Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox and Whoopi Goldberg. Also, there's no telling what other filmmakers could have done with its seemingly sure-fire premise, which should have afforded this cast plenty of comic opportunities.

An attempt at breezy comedy, "Kingdom Come" is alternately so strained and so utterly shrill that it seems to be twice its relatively brief length. And it's so forgettable that by the time you leave the theater, you may not even be able to remember its title, much less any specific characters or situations.

Yet compared to much of its current cinematic competition, at least this film has its heart in the right place and believes in the worth of the family unit and that love can overcome most domestic problems.

It also considerably "opens up" its source material, David Dean Bottell's popular off-Broadway play, "Dearly Departed," about the Slocumbs, a California family coming together for the funeral of the family patriarch.

Needless to say, it's a bittersweet time for widowed matriarch Raynelle (Goldberg). While she's happy to see her extended family, she also has mixed feelings about the passing of her husband, who was not the sweetest person in the world.

Meanwhile, oldest son Ray Bud (LL Cool J) has problems of his own — most of them coming in the form of wayward younger brother Junior (Anthony Anderson) and his wife Charisse (Pinkett Smith), whose bickering has disrupting Ray Bud's usually peaceful home.

Then there's Bud's sister Marguerite (Loretta Devine), who's taken this opportunity to lecture her shiftless son Royce (Darius McCrary) about the evils of his carefree lifestyle.

These are not unappealing characters, yet many of them are played so broadly that they become less appealing (particularly Pinkett Smith's screeching Charisse, who is easily the most grating thing about the movie).

Instead, director Doug McHenry ("House Party 2") should have been encouraging his cast to be more subtle, though it doesn't help that they're playing to material that culminates with unwelcome toilet humor.

"Kingdom Come" is rated PG for scattered profanity, crude humor (a flatulence gag — thankfully, only overheard) and brief violence (a scuffle). Running time: 95 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com