DENVER -- Every episode of “Three’s Company” would have ended about 20 minutes early if only each character didn’t overhear the wrong thing or understand a problem from the get-go.

Those misunderstandings fueled eight season of the bawdy sitcom, but no one is pestering Hollywood for a big-screen version of the show.

Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin James and Vince Vaughn in Universal Pictures' "The Dilemma."

Beside Joyce DeWitt’s agent, perhaps.

“The Dilemma” channels that “Three’s Company” mojo as well as any film comedy might. Director Ron Howard casts Vince Vaughn as a guy who finds his best friend’s wife canoodling with a stranger. What the character does from there would make Mr. Furley proud in both sound and fury – but it hardly registers as worth the full ticket price.

Ronny (Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) are not only best buds but business partners on the cusp of a major deal. Chrysler is considering a new engine design Nick dreamed up that will give the electric car market some cojones.

Yes, the plot involves the dreaded “gay” joke which drew so much press late last year, but in the context of the movie it doesn’t register as offensive – or funny.

So when Ronny spots Nick’s wife Geneva (a shrill Winona Ryder) making out with a tattooed stud he’s torn as to what to do next. If he tells Nick it would crush him – and distract him from sealing the big business deal. But how can he keep the news from his closest pal?

Instead, Ronny begins investigating the affair which alienates him from his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) and, sadly, manufactures fewer laughs than expected.

“The Dilemma” starts with a can’t miss premise but manages to avoid the target all the same. Vaughn, playing a less frantic version of his usual persona, isn’t give enough funny things to spout. Instead, Howard makes him slug it out with Geneva’s beau (Channing Tatum) simply because the sight of two grown men punching and kicking each other is always comedy gold, right? And, later, Ronny gives a disastrous toast to his girlfriend’s parents solely to send a message to Geneva.

Tonal issues plague the movie from start to finish. When Geneva tells Ronny their marriage is far more complex than he could imagine, it hints at a deeper, more intriguing story line to follow. Nothing doing. It’s back to the same ol’ misunderstandings and frantic slapstick until our heroes hug it out one last time. Howard trots out a few fantasy sequences based on Ronny’s active imagination, but they feel like a segue better left for the DVD extras.

“The Dilemma” still maintains our interest, if only because Vaughn and James remain winning personalities. But the film paints itself into a narrative corner and simply has no idea how to resolve it. So it forces the characters to behave in ways no one ever would, preventing us from getting emotionally involved in Nick’s heartbreak to come.

Vaughn and James offer two distinct comedic styles that could click beautifully on screen. You won’t find enough proof of it during “The Dilemma,” and that’s the biggest problem plaguing this comedic misfire.