Despite trying quite hard to impress and a sweet turn from Michelle Williams, The Baxter fails in its aims to shake up the rom-com genre, writes Elizabeth McMahon.

A Baxter, apparently, is the term used for the man who is the proverbial nice guy. He plays the game, jumps through the hoops and always loses out in love to the guy with issues who finally comes to his senses.

This is the first of The Baxter’s many problems. Attempting to give a specific name to an identity we have probably already come across in life gives a strong and irritating sense this film has ideas above its station.

Along with the new-name-for-old-concept niggle, The Baxter also tries to break the romcom mould with little success.

Michael Showalter - who wrote and directed the film - plays Elliot Sherman, a Harvard Business School graduate who has made a comfortable life for himself working for the second-best accountancy firm in the city. The only problem he has experienced in his unremarkable life is he always loses out in the love stakes.

We don’t need to take his word for it though; we can watch a cheesy little montage which marks his pathetic track record with the ladies thus far. Rather than feeling any sense of sympathy for the protagonist, ‘grow some’ is the only phrase that comes to mind.

The film begins with Sherman being jilted at the altar and then spans back two weeks to explain how he got there in the first place. Herein lies yet another problem, as it is pretty obvious why he was dumped and we don’t really need to sit there for an hour and a half to discover what we already knew.

We go back to the point where he is just about to ask his plain but kooky (she reads the dictionary for pleasure) temp Cecil Mills (a sweet Michelle Williams) to a classical concert. Slap bang in the middle of his question, Caroline Swann (a wooden but sexy Elizabeth Banks) sashays into his life.

News Shopper: Michael Showalter with Elizabeth Banks

Pretty, successful and clearly hungry to settle down, she takes him by the scruff of the neck and they embark on a whirlwind romance which lacks whirl and much of the wind but does result in a big, shiny ring.

All seems rosy for this mismatched couple until they have a meal with her family and photo albums from yesteryear rear their ugly head. Suddenly Elliot is confronted with the image of Caroline’s childhood sweetheart, Bradley (natural comic actor Justin Theroux), who has cheekbones you could shave your legs on. As well as being intimidated by his chiseled affability, Elliot is also concerned by the fact his fiance has never mentioned this apparent love of her life before.

He confronts her just before they are going out around her old stomping ground. She puts his mind at rest by claiming she had not seen any point in mentioning her past beau since he had run off to somewhere remote to study caves, or something weird like that.

Elliot breathes a sigh of relief, they go out and (you’ll never guess where this is going) Bradley turns up in the bar. He does have a girlfriend but she sneezes and admits to allergies so clearly she will be metaphorically culled from the proceedings at the first opportunity.

The rest of the plot pans out as one might expect and we are again reminded why Elliot is The Baxter. Ending back where the film began would not be sufficient though - there is a twist. But by the time it arrives, it feels more like a weak hump in the road. Does Elliot grow some? Sort of, but in the most un-profound way possible.

What do we learn from watching The Baxter? He may be the one who is unlucky in love but, due to the film’s predictability and failed genre bending, it is the audience which feels the true pain of loss.

The Baxter (12) out now on DVD.