Short Subjectives September 21 2005

Opening Friday

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· THE BAXTER (PG-13) Comedian Michael Showalter writes, directs and stars in this romantic comedy about a nerdy control freak worried that his upcoming wedding plans will go wrong. Featuring Elizabeth Banks, Justin Theroux and Michelle Williams.

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· DALTRY CALHOUN (PG-13) Johnny Knoxville stars in this dark comedy set in Knoxville (what are the odds!) about a shady businessman forced to care for his teenage daughter, a musical prodigy.

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· ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958) 3 stars. (NR) See review.

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· FLIGHTPLAN (PG-13) In this airborne thriller, Jodie Foster plays a distraught widow whose daughter vanishes at 40,000 feet — but no one else believes the girl was actually on the flight. Did Jodie check the overhead compartment?

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· PROOF (PG-13) 2 stars. See review.

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· ROLL BOUNCE (PG-13) The artist known as Bow Wow stars in this coming-of-age comedy set primarily in a 1970s roller rink. If you’ve been longing for a throwback to the era of Roller Boogie, this is your chance.

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· THE TALENT GIVEN US (NR) In this family road trip comedy, a retired NYC couple drive across country to reunite with their estranged son. Writer/director Andrew Wagner cast his own family in the film, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.

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· THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS (PG-13) For this week’s other family road trip comedy, Paul Reiser wrote, produced and stars in this schmaltzy project about a son trying to patch things up between his bickering parents (Peter Falk and Olympia Dukakis).

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· CORPSE BRIDE 3 stars. (PG) See review.

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Duly Noted

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· COWBOY DEL AMOR (NR) This award-winning documentary provides a portrait of “cowboy cupid” Ivan Thompson, who matches up American men with Mexican women. Latin American Film Festival. Fri., Sept. 23, 8 p.m. Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Auditorium, 1280 Peachtree St. $5. 404-733-4570. www.high.org.

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· INHERITANCE (2001) (NR) Two foreigners meet by chance in a Buenos Aires restaurant and resolve to renew their faith in life and love. Latin American Film Festival. Sun., Sept. 25, 3 p.m. Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Auditorium, 1280 Peachtree St. Free. 404-733-4570. www.high.org.

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· LOWLANDS (1954) (NR) Based on an opera, the last feature film of renowned director Leni Riefenstahl depicts a romantic triangle between a gypsy dancer, a shepherd, and a landowner in the Pyrenees. Film Retrospective: Leni Riefenstahl. Wed., Sept. 28, 7 p.m. Goethe-Institut Atlanta, 1197 Peachtree St., Colony Square. $4. 404-892-2388.

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· MACHUCA (2004) (NR) Director Andrés Woods draws on his personal experiences in this drama, set during the overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende, and the social dislocations perceived by an 11-year-old boy. Latin American Film Festival. Sat., Sept. 24, 8 p.m. Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Auditorium, 1280 Peachtree St.; Wed., Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m. Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive. $5. 404-733-4570. www.high.org.

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· MEGACITIES (1998) (NR) This German documentary explores the underground cultures of some of the world’s most sprawling cities by focusing on several individuals, including street performers, homeless kids and hustlers. Sept. 23-29. Call for times. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft.

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· THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) (R) The cult classic of cult classics, the musical horror spoof follows an all-American couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a drag-queen/mad scientist from another galaxy. It’s all fun and games until Meat Loaf gets killed. Dress as your favorite character and participate in this musical on acid. Midnight Fri. at Lefont Plaza Theatre and Sat. at Peachtree Cinema & Games, Norcross.

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· UNLEASHED 3 stars. After being treated like a dog his entire life by a Glasgow mobster (Bob Hoskins), a henchman (Jet Li) finds comfort in his friendships with a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman) and his stepdaughter (Kerry Condon). While the thrilling set pieces goose the proceedings, it’s the acting that dominates: Freeman packs his usual authority, Condon is an absolute delight, and Hoskins clearly relishes the return to the U.K. underworld milieu of The Long Good Friday. And then there’s Jet Li, whose puppy-dog demeanor adds some tears to the expected blood and sweat. Thurs., Sept. 22. Call for times. Cinefest, GSU University Center, Suite 211, 66 Courtland St. $5 ($3 until 5 p.m.). 404-651-3565. www2.gsu.edu/~wwwcft. — Matt Brunson

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Continuing

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· THE ARISTOCRATS 4 stars. (NR) George Carlin, Gilbert Gottfried, Sarah Silverman, John Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg and scores of other comedians take turns telling — or commenting on — an old, notoriously offensive joke usually reserved for other comedians, instead of their audiences. Depending on your tolerance for humor based on every imaginable human depravity, you might not always find “The Aristocrats” a very funny gag, but this documentary (from Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette) earns some honest laughs while offering fascinating — and uncomfortable — insights into the minds of professional jokemeisters. — Curt Holman

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· BROKEN FLOWERS 2 stars. (R) Cinema’s two reigning Zen masters of deadpan understatement, Bill Murray and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, dial it back a little too far in this melancholy comedy. Murray’s aging Don Juan road-trips to see which of four ex-lovers (played superbly by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton) is the mother to the son he never knew. With such self-conscious tedium and heavy-handed symbols, Broken Flowers feels wasteful of its terrific cast, although Murray’s touchingly subtle work strikes some highly affecting chords in the last 15 minutes. — Holman

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· THE BROTHERS GRIMM 1 star. (PG-13) Inveterate scenery chewer and slapstick fan Terry Gilliam directs the blandly Caucasian team of Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in an annoyingly manic action-adventure yarn. The two 19th-century German brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, who wrote fairy tales like “Rapunzel” and “Snow White,” become swashbuckling adventurers in screenwriter Ehren Kruger’s hands. The brothers fight to exorcise a haunted German forest of its ghouls. A tangled, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink storyline proves Gilliam was not paying attention when he re-read all of those simple but effective Grimm tales. — Felicia Feaster

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· THE CAVE (PG-13) A group of divers trapped in subterranean tunnels must fend off bloodthirsty monsters. Probably no great shakes, but the tagline has haiku-like perfection: “Beneath Heaven there is Hell. And beneath Hell there is ... The Cave!”

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· CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 4 stars. (PG) Tim Burton’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s hallucinatory children’s story makes a vast improvement on the clunky 1971 version with Gene Wilder as the kid-sadist Willy Wonka. Managing scathing commentary on contemporary permissive parenting, this Charlie follows four brats and one near-cherub (Freddie Highmore) on a tour through the phantasmagorical factory of Johnny Depp’s chocolatier. Burton’s film is a mad-capped riff on the cornpone head shop comedy of Willy Wonka, but goes much further in its hilarious send-up of the equally psychedelic, excessive qualities of film history, from Busby Berkeley musicals to film noir and Stanley Kubrick. — Feaster

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· THE CONSTANT GARDENER 4 stars. (R) In this flashy, faithful adaptation of John Le Carré’s espionage best seller, Ralph Fiennes plays impressively against type as a meek diplomat in Africa investigating the murder of his activist wife (Rachel Weisz). Director Fernando Mereilles brings a similar intensity and eye for telling detail that marked sizzling City of God and makes The Constant Gardener one of the rare political thriller’s that’s actually about politics. Too many characters seem to exist simply for exposition instead of insight, but the film stirringly blends suspenseful paranoia, tragic romance and indignation at corporate misdeeds in the Third World. — Holman

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· CRASH 3 stars. (R) Writer/director Paul Haggis (whose Million Dollar Baby script won an Oscar) presents one of those sprawling multi-character films set in Southern California, only it emphasizes racism as the unifying element. Both thought-provokingly relevant and shamelessly manipulative, Crash presents a simmering melting pot of frustrated Los Angelenos waiting to take out their rage on the first person of a different color who crosses their path. The engrossing scenes and dedicated actors (including Don Cheadle in the central role as an honest LAPD detective) make up for Crash’s heavy-handed storytelling. — Holman

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· CRY_WOLF (PG-13) A group of nasty prep schoolers try to prank the campus with rumors of a serial killer — only to see their story start coming true. It’s one of those PG-13 thrillers, so don’t expect much sex or violence, just a radio-friendly soundtrack.

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· DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO (R) In one of those inexplicable sequels to movies you can’t imagine anyone going to see the first time around, Rob Schneider plays a male “ho” tricked into whoring around Amsterdam. Bound to make you miss that “Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute” sketch from “Saturday Night Live.”

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· THE DEVIL’S REJECTS (R) The wait is over: Musician Rob Zombie has written and directed another movie, taking up where House of 1000 Corpses left off. I guess House of 1001 Corpses wasn’t as good a title.

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· THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE 2 stars. (PG-13) A morally conflicted, atheist attorney (Laura Linney) defends a brooding priest (Tom Wilkinson) of negligent homicide in the wake of an unsuccessful exorcism. With an Oscar-caliber cast and a premise that blends courtroom drama with supernatural conflicts, this supernatural thriller promises scares and thoughtful content, and fails to deliver them both. You’d do better with a Halloween episode of “Law and Order” than Exorcism’s lame legal plot points and muddled spirituality. — Holman

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· THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN 4 stars. (R) Can a sheltered, geeky electronics store employee (“The Daily Show’s” Steve Carell, who co-wrote the script) discover the joys of man-on-woman action, or will fate conspire comedically against him? This raunchy but surprisingly sweet comedy with a relaxed, engaging cast takes great pleasure in examining society’s sexual obsessions and the anxiety it engenders. It’s a little long, but like the cable cult-flick Office Space, it gets plenty of mileage of taking place in the same generic, chain-store America where must of us live, work and play. — Holman

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· FOUR BROTHERS 3 stars. (R) The adopted sons (two white, two black) of a slain Detroit woman seek the truth about their mother’s death. This lo-fi urban thriller from John Singleton may be heavy-handed and silly, but it captures the spare, edgy fun of cult blaxploitation films far better than the director’s own remake of Shaft. Atlanta’s Andre Benjamin of OutKast fame comports himself comfortably as the most respectable of the title siblings. — Holman

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· GRIZZLY MAN 3 stars. (R) Legendary German director Werner Herzog contemplates the call of the wild by recounting the true story of ill-fated wildlife activist Timothy Treadwell, the self-appointed “guardian” of Alaska’s grizzly bears up until he and his girlfriend were fatally attacked by one. Herzog edits nearly 100 hours of Treadwell’s own footage to reveal a man so dedicated to wildlife that he lost perspective on its genuine dangers. Herzog’s intrusive narration diminishes Grizzly Man’s impact, but the film’s portrayal of nature — at once beautiful and brutal — has a lingering force. — Holman

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· HAROLD LLOYD COMEDIES (NR) With his penchant for insanely risky on-screen stunts, silent film star Harold Lloyd may have been the Johnny Knoxville of his day. This retrospective of his feature films from the 1920s includes Girl Shy and Why Worry?. Through Sept. 22. Landmark Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive. 678-495-1424,

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· IMAX THEATER: The Living Sea (NR) Humpback whales, golden jellyfish and giant clams star in this documentary about the diversity of undersea life, with music by Sting and narrated by Meryl Streep. Mystery of the Nile (NR) this IMAX adventure follows a small group of reporters and filmmakers as they travel 3,000 miles up the Nile river. Fernbank Museum of Natural History IMAX Theater, 767 Clifton Road. 404-929-6300. www.fernbank.edu.

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· JUNEBUG 3 stars. (R) This deeply charming, tender story about a Southern homecoming, bristles with honest observation and wit, much of it transmitted by Amy Adams as a pregnant Southern ball of fire. George (Alessandro Nivola) and his sophisticated new wife, Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), head from their Chicago home to visit his folks in North Carolina where they find a South defined by close, unspoken family ties and no small amount of heartbreak, as captured by first-time director Phil Morrison and screenwriter Angus MacLachlan. — Feaster

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· JUST LIKE HEAVEN 2 stars. (PG-13) In sort of an undead Goodbye Girl, the intangible specter of a workaholic doctor (Reese Witherspoon) haunts the depressed, slobby hunk (Mark Ruffalo) who sublet her apartment. Witherspoon and Ruffalo improve on overly familiar material and Jon Heder, who played the title role in Napoleon Dynamite, has a small, scene-stealing role as a slacker psychic. If you’ve ever seen a Meg Ryan movie you won’t find much new here. — Holman

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· LORD OF WAR 2 stars. (R) A good idea badly executed, this drama about an international arms dealer (Nicolas Cage) is immediately doomed because writer-director Andrew Niccol can’t resist soft-pedaling his odious central character. And while Niccol rightly feels that the easy procurement of weapons — not to mention the resultant casualties of war (usually women and children) — is an important issue that requires further discussion, he would have had more success had he placed his data in the context of compelling entertainment. Instead, he merely uses numbing voice-over narration to pile on the statistics and crunch the figures. — Brunson

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· THE MAN 1 star. (PG-13) Eugene Levy plays Andy Fidler, a Wisconsin dental product salesman in Detroit for a conference; Samuel L. Jackson plays Derrick Vann, a federal agent trying to nail the gun runners who murdered his partner. In a sequence of staggering stupidity, Andy is mistaken for Derrick, so the pair must team up in an attempt to set things right. But why go on? Even at 85 minutes, this is a tedious time waster, featuring two — count ‘em, two — scenes that milk Andy’s flatulence like a Hershey cow. — Brunson

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· MARCH OF THE PENGUINS 2 stars. (G) This French documentary, a kind of inferior, nonflying version of Winged Migration, concerns the annual migration of Antarctica’s Emperor penguins from their bachelor digs across inhospitable climes to their mating grounds. The doc features adorable birds, cloying, hard-to-take narration from Morgan Freeman and the not exactly original assessment that nature is cruel. — Feaster

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· ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW 2 stars. (R) In this quirky, deadpan love story, geeky video artist Christine (July) falls for recently separated geeky shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes). Like a feel-good Todd Solondz, July interweaves into that spazzy romance countless poetic moments that range from the keenly observed to the self-consicously precious. — Feaster

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· NOVEMBER 2 stars. (R) Courteney Cox plays a photographer fixated on the night her boyfriend (onetime indie darling James LeGros now reduced to a bland romantic sidekick role) was shot in a convenience store robbery. In a SoCal variation on Rashomon, the events of that night unfold three times, with three different outcomes. What is truth, what is fiction? The goofy twist ending is a typical out-of-left-field thriller softball that contradicts the film’s previous musings on death and fate. — Feaster

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· RED EYE 3 stars. Red Eye qualifies as the best movie that director Wes Craven has ever made: Unlike his usual junk (The Last House on the Left, Scream), this at least feels like an A-list project rather than the masturbatory exercises in misogyny he tends to foist upon the public. Rachel McAdams delivers a strong performance as Lisa Reisert, whose flight home to Miami turns into a terror trip once she discovers that the charming guy (Cillian Murphy) sitting next to her will involve her in an attempted political assassination. Red Eye may not expand the parameters of the thriller genre but it certainly knows how to make its way inside its well-established conventions. — Brunson

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· SHORT CUT TO NIRVANA: KUMBH MELA 2 stars. (Not Rated) Every 12 years an epic religious pilgrimage takes place outside Allahambad, India, with crowds estimated between 30 and 70 million. Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day’s documentary on the festival takes a chaotic look at the phenomenon, capturing the carnival-esque spirit of gurus who perform stunts like nail sitting and three-day burials to prove their devotion and draw crowds. The film never gets viewers in touch with its spiritual importance or historical significance, and a potentially enlightening opportunity feels squandered. — Feaster

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· THE SKELETON KEY 3 stars. (PG-13) Kate Hudson stars as Caroline Ellis, a caretaker hired to look after a stroke victim (John Hurt) residing in a creaky mansion in the middle of the Louisiana swamps. The patient’s wife (Gena Rowlands) views Caroline with suspicion, but before long it’s Caroline who has to keep her guard up, as mysterious events suggest that a paranormal presence might be living within the house. The supernatural element might extend to Rowlands, whose high camp performance suggests she was possessed by Bette Davis circa What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? While enjoyable, her overripe turn dilutes the story’s potency, though the movie rights itself in time for a satisfying twist ending. — Brunson

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· A SOUND OF THUNDER 1 star. (PG-13) In the year 2055, a reckless company arranges time-traveling dinosaur hunts, but a minor change in the past changes evolution and overruns “present-day” Chicago with lethal flora and fauna. Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack and Ben Kingsley commit to sturdy B-movie performances, but the illogical script and fakey effects deserve extinction. Still, it’s hard to completely hate a film that features red-faced dinosaur-baboons. — Holman

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· TRANSPORTER 2 (PG-13) Jason Statham reprises his role as a former Special Forces operative who kicks ass, takes names and transports stuff. Here he must rescue a pair of kidnapped twins, so think The Pacifier without the laughs. Assuming The Pacifier had laughs.

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· 2046 4 stars. (R) Obsessive Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai crafts a sort-of-sequel to his art-house hit In the Mood for Love. Replacing unconsummated romance with unattached intimacy, 2046 proves an equally lush but more complex study in style and mood, as Tony Leung’s dissolute writer becomes involved with some of Asia’s most beautiful women, most prominently Crouching Tiger’s Zhang Ziyi as a heartbroken call girl. Rather than try to decode all of the director’s post-modern plot twists, you’ll have a more satisfying time bathing in the film’s voluptuousness. — Holman

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· UNDERCLASSMAN (PG-13) Drumline’s Nick Cannon plays a streetwise L.A. cop who goes undercover at an elite private school. Presumably Martin Lawrence was too old for the role. The cast includes Cheech Marin, Kelly Hu and Ian Gomez.

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· AN UNFINISHED LIFE 2 stars. (PG-13) A gruff cowboy (Robert Redford) who still blames his daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) for his son’s death isn’t thrilled when she shows up uninvited with her young daughter (Becca Gardner) in tow. It’s good to see Redford playing a character who’s more ornery than iconic, and the impressive Gardner provides a boost to every scene in which she appears — she especially blossoms opposite Morgan Freeman, cast as Redford’s trusty companion. Yet the camaraderie between the Redford and Freeman characters isn’t always convincing — it plays like an inferior version of the Freeman-Eastwood tag team in Million Dollar Baby — while the heavy-handed moralizing leads to all the expected climaxes and conclusions. — Brunson

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· VALIANT 2 stars. (G) The most interesting moment in this turgid animated feature is the revelation that of the 53 Dickin Medals given to animals for bravery during World War II, 31 of them went to pigeons. That sounds like a compelling subject for a live-action documentary (March of the Pigeons?), but instead, the topic has been tossed away on a rigidly rote cartoon that features the usual mix of uninspired computer-animated graphics, obvious morals aimed at small children and, oh yeah, flatulence gags. — Brunson

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· VENOM (R) The director of I Know What You Did Last Summer helms another youth-skewing (and skewering) horror tale, this time set — with unfortunate timing — in the Louisiana bayou country.

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· WEDDING CRASHERS 2 stars. (R) Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) and John (Owen Wilson) spend their weekends crashing weddings in a search for Ms. Right Now, but trouble strikes when the duo ends up falling for their prey. Although Wilson and Vaughn provide loads of snappy banter, Crashers just can’t seem to consistently sustain the laughs. — Carlton Hargro

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· YES 4 stars. (R) Director Sally Potter has created a wholly original, ambitious and often patience-testing love story about an independent Western scientist (Joan Allen) who engages in a life-changing affair with a working class Lebanese cook (Simon Abkarian). Using a host of experimental techniques, including direct-camera address, slo-mo and dialogue spoken in rhyming verse, Potter examines various conflicts that define her lovers’ lives: class, ethnicity, culture, gender. The results can be stilted and affected, but also transportive and bold. It’s hard not to respect a director who so fundamentally challenges the conventions of filmmaking in her own original, fascinating way. — Feaster