While "Deep Impact" is based on a potentially fascenating concept, the movie gets bogged down in clichéd subplots and predictable Hollywood sentamentalism. The premise: A comet is heading on a collision course toward Earth. We've got to find a way to stop it, and failing that, we'll dig a bunch of underground caves to hide in until the calamity passes over.

The special effects were good, but not breathtaking. Morgan Freeman, as always, did an excellent acting job, despite his one-dimensional role as President of the United States. Téa Leoni was competent in her role as a reporter for MSNBC, whose company logo became so prominent throughout the movie as an obvious product placement that it led to distraction.

Except for the silver screen caliber special effects budget, everything about "Deep Impact" would have fit perfectly into a run-of-the-mill television miniseries. The differences between alienated family members becoming magically resolved at the approach of an oncoming disaster, the all to familiar guy-gets-separated-from-his-girlfriend-and-gets-reuinted-at-the-last-minute routine, and finally the magic rescue just when all hope has been lost.

That said, I still found the movie relatively entertaining. The scene where the astronauts landed on the comet was well done, and I enjoyed the tidal wave special effects as well.

"Deep Impact" is a typical example of warmhearted, shallow, glossy, over-commercialized American family entertainment.