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Danny Aiello keeps 'Brooklyn Lobster' above water

You can practically smell the seaweed and the seafood in Brooklyn Lobster, a well-observed if not particularly original drama about keeping a family and a family business from falling apart.

The movie needs a charismatic and irascible performer at its center and it gets it in Danny Aiello (Moonstruck, Do The Right Thing) as Sheepshead Bay crustacean-hawker Frank Giorgio, in danger of drowning in debt.

Meadowbrook Pictures 'Brooklyn Lobster' B- The verdict: The family and the family business are endangered in this modest, predictable tale, well played by Aiello. Director: Kevin Jordan Starring: Danny Aiello, Jane Curtin, Daniel Serafini-Sauli, Heather Burns, Marisa Ryan Run time: 90 minutes Release date: Nov. 4, 2005 Rating: Not rated. See showtimes On the web Official movie site [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Written and directed by Kevin Jordan, who grew up amid the lobster tanks of his family's retail store, the film is rich in detail but its story line and character dynamics seem too familiar for this amiable yarn's own good.

Patriarch Frank gets by barking orders and doing things his way, until forced to face the possibility of foreclosure on his shop because of a defaulted bank that held his loan. So the business faces public auction, which to Frank's way of thinking, is preferable to an offer to buy from a fast-food franchise. Flying in to help Frank is his estranged son Michael (Daniel Sauli), a dot.com wannabe from Seattle who, naturally, has grievances to air. Meanwhile, Frank's long-suffering wife Maureen (Jane Curtin) has had enough of his moodiness and moves out, but only as far as their nearby married daughter's house.

Aiello is the reason to see Brooklyn Lobster, to enjoy his exasperating, lovable performance, full of bull-headed bravado and glimmers of desperation. It is a great character, well played, but still in search of a film worthy of its complexity.

Moviegoers will learn an awful lot about the lobster business along the way and the difficulties of keeping such an enterprise afloat, while the family dynamic is a little too pat.