Does the subject of wife-swapping make you uncomfortable? If it does you are in for an uncomfortable 86 minutes if you choose to attend the screening of American BIFF entry 'Grown Ups'.

While the subject matter has in the past been reserved for rare 1970s comedies and overly-optimistic porn, 'Grown Ups' presents wife swapping as a manifestation of Gen X discontent rather than free love or fecund fantasy.

The film's characters have grown into their early thirties accumulating marriages, homes and jobs along the way - but having achieved the middle class dream they are forced to ask themselves: "Why did I want all this anyway?"

It centres around the interaction of two married couples. Steve (played by John Stamos best known for the TV series "Full House") and Eric (Daniel London), childhood friends married to their college sweethearts.

The couples are all happily married but ultimately B-O-R-E-D.

While Eric punctures the silence of complacency in their weekly outings with incessant jokes about swapping wives, Steve begins to hatch a plan to bring the joke to reality.

Growing up a during the 1980s, Steve figures he and his contemporaries missed all the good times. The kids of the 1970s got free love and drugs, the kids of the 1980s got 'just say no' and the AIDS scare.

But, if they swap wives for one wacky night, Steve and Eric figure they can move into adulthood full-time without mooning for what they are missing.

The two develop a presentation to pitch the idea to their wives who ultimately accept.

Anyone possessing an ounce of insight into human nature can probably guess that the safe and blameless wife-swap the two men have dreamed up does not translate into reality.

The tense atmosphere 'Grown Ups' offers thickens as the two couples and former friends struggle to deal with the unforeseen repercussions of their actions.

While pitched as a romantic comedy, the film has a darker edge and screenwriters Doug Finelli and Mitch Galane offer a highly realistic portrayal of the dynamics of a "couple crowd".

The film approached the darkly mesmerising aspects of a Todd Solanz (Happiness) flick before falling back on an unconvincing happy ending.

Altogether it is an uneven film with tiny glimpses of insight and raw emotion.

If the filmmakers succeed in filtering out their tendency towards sitcom simplicity however, they may be more interesting works to come from this pairing.

Short: Call me Chris...

The 20-minute American entry Call me Chris... takes a familiar gimmick - one object (a dollar bill) passes through the hands of a number of people - but adds a new twist.

The dollar bill eventually ties the individuals together rather than links up individual story lines.

A fresh and pretty cast leads us through a series of laughs in this fun short from screenwriter John Y. Church.