Tom Wilkinson, Ewan MacGregor and Colin Farrell in "Cassandra's Dream."

For such a wan little fellow, Woody Allen sure is one workhorse of a filmmaker.

Allen has directed 42 films and written even more since he got started in 1966. That's a movie a year -- a pace the very thought of which must make many of today's young auteurs (I'm looking at you, Paul Thomas Anderson) shudder.

Unfortunately for Allen, the more movies you make, the more you expose yourself. And critics have been none too kind to Allen these past 20 years -- that is, until he took a surprising left turn with the erotic crime drama "Match Point" in 2005.

"Match Point" saw Allen shift not only genres but settings, forsaking comedy for suspense and his beloved New York City for London. The result was his most critically and commercially successful film in years.

Now, with "Cassandra's Dream," Allen has made a movie so similar in theme, setting and tone to "Match Point" that one can't help but suspect he's trying to recapture lightning in a bottle.

"Cassandra's Dream" tells the tale of Ian (Ewan MacGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell), two 30ish British brothers who have remained close to their working-class parents' home their entire lives.

Terry is a car mechanic with a taste for booze and gambling, while Ian is the more well-polished and ambitious of the two, biding his time working in the family restaurant while trying to score big on the side with a shady hotel investment deal.

The film's opening scene finds Terry and Ian negotiating the price of a sailboat, a toy both of them want because it symbolizes the carefree days of their shared childhood. They christen the boat Cassandra's Dream, after the winning greyhound that contributed heartily to its price tag.

Although it shares names with the film, the sailboat plays no significant role in the story. Rather, it's a clunky symbol for the tragic fatalism "Cassandra's Dream" explores.

Like "Match Point" and, earlier, Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Cassandra's Dream" is a film obsessed with a dark philosophical question: If a man commits a murder and God isn't watching, does it make a difference?

In "Cassandra's Dream," the question emerges when Terry and Ian's wildly successful uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) calls upon his two nephews for a favor.

Howard has bailed out the boys several times in the past, and this time, he's the one who needs bailing out. Whether or not Terry and Ian have the stomach to carry out his request is the fulcrum of the drama.

"Cassandra's Dream" plays like a limp stage play until the fatal question of "To murder or not to murder?" arises. Thereafter, it becomes a slightly less limp suspense drama -- still limp because of Allen's stubborn insistence on playing it straight.

Now, a suspense thriller is no place for the nutty energy that made Allen's best comedies so enjoyable. But Allen nearly forgoes wit altogether. The few minor attempts here -- for example, Terry's girlfriend Kate jokingly asks the brothers if they are plotting an assassination when, unbeknownst to her, they are doing just that -- are laughable miscues in an otherwise laughless script.

The performances are occasionally winning, particularly Colin Farrell's as the drunk, downward-spiraling Terry. But too often the actors' considerable skills (particularly Wilkinson's) are hamstrung by Allen's contrived script and controlling directorial hand.

"Cassandra's Dream" has no verve, no swagger. It floats by ably enough, but its sails aren't aloft with wind and life.