"The Mystic Masseur" marks another film by Ismail Merchant that forgoes his filmmaking partnership with director James Ivory, albeit temporarily, and it proves to be a wise decision — on Ivory's part. However, undertaking another period piece wasn't so smart.

Dumber still was his decision to direct the film — a fairly dull adaptation of some highly regarded material (a best-seller by Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul) — himself.

At times, the movie feels as if it is desperately trying to shift gears — veering from drama to comedy (in that regard, it fails badly) — and its characters aren't appealing enough to hold our interest.

That includes the title character, Ganesh (Aasif Mandvi), a young man living in one of Trinidad's Indian communities shortly after the conclusion of World War II.

Though both his family and members of the community are expecting him to follow in the footsteps of his late father, a beloved physician, Ganesh wants to be a writer — something that doesn't go over well. Worse, his initial efforts in this regard are not successful, but by practicing his skills as a masseur and seer, he rises to prominence, furthering both his writing and political careers.

Adding to the muddle are unnecessary wraparound sequences that require clunky voice-over narration (by Jimi Mistry, who plays a longtime acquaintance of the title character). And Mandvi isn't charismatic enough to make us believe his character's rags-to-riches story.

In fact, the only times the film really comes to life are during scenes with venerable Indian actor Om Puri, playing Ganesh's hypercritical father-in-law. But even that's offset by a painfully unfunny cameo by Merchant-Ivory regular James Fox.

"The Mystic Masseur" is rated PG for scattered use of profanity and ethnic slurs, as well as one surprisingly vulgar gag (sexual in nature). Running time: 112 minutes.

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