Fate's interposing hand in the lives and hearts of lovers gets more bigscreen treatment in "Return to Me," a lightly jocose but wholly predictable effort from Bonnie Hunt, who wears the hats of director, supporting actress and co-scribe for the film. The movie follows the tales of Bob (David Duchovny), an architectural engineer attempting to rebuild his life after his zoologist wife (Joely Richardson) is killed in an auto accident, and Grace, a sheltered and reclusive waitress recuperating from a heart transplant. Their paths decisively cross at her grandfather's (Caroll O'Connor) Irish-Italian restaurant, where mutual attraction sparks when Grace serves Bob on his prototypical blind date from hell. Bob escapes his nightmarish rendezvous, eventually returning to the restaurant and, in the first major step toward their respective emotional recoveries, the two agree to go on a date together. The couple's courtship is helped along by the cupid-esque antics of Grace's grandfather and his head chef Angelo (Robert Loggia), as well as the support of her best friend Megan (Bonnie Hunt) and Bob's pal Charlie (David Alan Grier).

   As is evident to anyone and everyone within the pic's first five minutes, Grace's new heart (which, of course, comes to her as a result of the death of Bob's wife), is the force that will bring the loveseekers together (Bob is instinctually drawn to Grace) and eventually threaten to drive them apart (Bob's inevitable shock at the reminder of his wife's untimely passing).

   Helping to offset the film's by-the-book plotline are a few charming performances, most notably from the winsome Driver and screen veterans O'Connor and Loggia, whose friendly Italo-Celtic competition and innocent matchmaking endeavors ("I already told him you had some work done on your chest," Angelo relates to Grace about a conversation he had with a potential beau) are some of the film's comical highlights. Unfortunately, Duchovny's limited emotional range, which serves him well as "The X-Files'" intense FBI agent Fox Mulder, only works against him here, where he must vacillate between distraught widower and captivating leading man. Hitting a flatline, too, is the film's attempt to symbolically represent the attachments of the heart through its literal reattachment to another person--a metaphor that doesn't quite succeed in tugging the heartstrings it's aiming for. Starring David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia, Bonnie Hunt, David Alan Grier and Jim Belushi. Directed by Bonnie Hunt. Written by Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake. Produced by Jennie Lew Tugend. An MGM release. Romantic comedy. Rated PG for some language and thematic elements. Running time: 115 min