After the Gilbert and Sullivan period antics of Topsy-Turvy, director Mike Leigh has returned to the milieu that originally made his reputation: the kitchen-sink realism of the English working class and the emotional, financial and social problems faced by its members. However, unlike Secrets & Lies, his biggest hit dealing with similar issues, All or Nothing leaves one with the thought that Leigh is just treading waterin familiar territory.

This is not to say there's anything dishonest or lacking in integrity about Leigh's latest miserablist foray; it's just that it induces a sense of déja-vu in regular followers of his work. Leigh stalwart Timothy Spall plays the quiet-to-the-point-of-catatonic Phil Bassett, a down-at-heel taxi driver whose partner Penny (Lesley Manville, another Leigh regular) works the checkout stand at a south London Safeway. Although they aren't married, they've been together long enough to have two portly teens: Rachel (Alison Garland), who works as an orderly in an old-folks' home, and the very heavy Rory (James Corden), who does little except sprawl out on the couch, swear at his mom and nurse untold grievances.

Phil, whose hang-dog look brings to mind another kind of Bassett, is a lazy fatalist given to uttering philosophical clichés like "You're born alone and you die alone." But somehow he's likeable, and the film makes plain that he loves his family. His relationship with daughter Rachel is tender and mutually caring while his interactions with Penny are routine but devoid of rancor. His inability to help (or stand up to) Rory causes him obvious pain. For her part, Penny is the anchor, working full-time while ministering to the increasingly burdensome needs of the family - to the point where she's ready to snap.

Leigh surrounds the Bassetts with a constellation of council-flat neighbours and co-workers with similar or worse problems, running the gamut from loneliness (an aging male co-worker of Rachel's) to teen pregnancy (the daughter of Penny's best friend and neighbour Maureen) to alcoholism. Leigh creates an extended canvas of misery populated by defeated souls-like Ken Loach, but without the political bite -and one waits, expectantly, to see where Leigh is going with all of this.

Unfortunately, he's not going very far. The acting is as good as one would expect in a Leigh film, but the writing falls short. The three main adult women - the very grounded Maureen, the put-upon but still okay Penny and the hopeless alcoholic Carol-are too schematically drawn to ring completely true. One is supposed to wonder if Penny will find her footing, like Maureen, or end up going in the opposite direction like Carol. A bit paint-by-numbers, that.

And while the film does contain the odd moment of mordant Leigh humour-Phil's modest pub speech to a mate outlining his semi-existentialist take on life is answered with "So how much does the missus make at Safeway?" - the devastating wit of, for example, Naked is nowhere to be found. By the time we arrive at the "love conquers all" dénouement, one can be forgiven for feeling - given that this IS a Mike Leigh film - a bit cheated.