Janice Page

Unfortunately for Tatum and Seyfried, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams did a far more convincing version of this same basic dance in “The Notebook.’’

Dukakis gets off some of the film's best lines and keeps the worst from sinking the whole affair; Polley's role is limited, but her character's audition for a feminine hygiene commercial is by far the best thing here.

It's not that What a Girl Wants is dreadful; it's merely slapdash, wildly inconsistent in tone and style, and mind-numbingly predictable in character and plot.

No sophisticated dance, but it moves about with an open heart. And hey, it's at least as funny as that Greek thing.

The film logs almost all of its laughs when it's at its crudest, meanest, and most unfiltered. Everything else - and that is to say most of the movie - is a big, fat, derivative waste of time.

In the end, the thing that Cussler's fans will probably object to most is the nonsensical way Sahara manhandles his story.

Kevin James's latest comedy doesn't promise any bing or bang, only boom. Take it at its word.

Assassin is funnier and less awkward than her last concert film, 2004's ''CHO Revolution," but nowhere near as consistently gut busting as 2002's ''Notorious C.H.O." or (first and still best) 2000's ''I'm the One That I Want."

Despite being well acted and sweetly moving when it strips down to the tender poem at its heart, Till Human Voices Wake Us spends too much time playing to an otherworldly suspense that simply isn't there.

When the big twist is revealed at the end of The Life Before Her Eyes, you might think the only way to appreciate its cleverness is to see the film again. I did that. It didn't help.

Underdog! Rest assured, there is no superhero cliche left unchewed; they even manage to slide in a "Lady and the Tramp" homage while they're at it.

Though Murray and Curry gamely deliver some chuckle-worthy one-liners along the way, they're mostly leashed to material as moldy and uninspired as the "Jeffersons" theme song.

Actually an above-average farce, at least as featherweight chick flicks go.

This is a ride, a video game, a soundtrack -- unapologetic and clearly labeled as such. It has no middle speed.

Ladling in so much schmaltz that even his in-house critic says, ''This thing's worse than `Terms of Endearment.'''

An overwrought story of American politics and image-making that really only gets interesting in the final act.

Weintrob's stylish visuals mimic Web technologies, which succeed in making his characters seem all the more removed from reality. Now if someone would find a way to equip theater seats with a ''delete'' key, we could be rid of them completely.

Ignore the hype. You won't find anything startling or memorable in the derivative Hide and Seek.

Fienberg’s film spends most of its time trying to convince us that true love starts when you stop playing games. Then, in the final minutes, it reverses itself and puts gamesmanship back up on another wobbly pedestal. The result is hard to cheer.

Falls flat on two fronts: It's neither deep and interesting enough to be a brainteaser nor sufficiently thrilling to count as a mindless diversion.

The next time Grodin attempts a comeback, it would be so great if he avoids movies where he might be upstaged by a sandwich stunt.

Muniz has better secret-agent toys to play with, funnier lines and sidekicks helping him out, and a bit more discerning director in Kevin Allen ("The Big Tease").

Likable performances are critically wounded by implausible scenarios and derivative-minded direction referencing everything from ''Reservoir Dogs'' to ''Fargo.''

There are moments, too, where the forced hipness falls aside and the two lead characters just plain relate, realistically and maturely, with a seasoned playfulness that is truly charming.

Serves up a silly story and clunky dialogue that gets better than it deserves from Jennifer Aspen as Lenny's would-be girlfriend.

It winds up being predictably charmless and forgettable, even as a travelogue or iPod download.

If ridiculous, hackneyed, gratuitously violent slasher movies aren't your thing, don't go near Venom with a 10-foot snake pole.