Neither [Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley] nor the competent cast can overcome the formulaic script by Jana Howington and Steve Lukanic or the humdrum direction by Bryant Spicer.

Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen are shallow New York socialites on the verge of divorce who become tax-fraud fugitives and pretend to be simple Amish folk. Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert they're not.

The plot is a yawner, another one of those "fish out of water'' formula jobs, complete with car chases and jokes about cow manure. But [Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen] succeed somehow in bringing a certain charm to their scenes.

It's a see-through comedy with an easily-called plot line but Allen and Alley's attempt to blend into the austere Amish lifestyle is mostly syrup-free fun.