Robert Koehler

Mansion's drab comic strokes and narrative render the movie almost superfluous.

To be sure, Kelley's Emmy-winning brand of off-kilter humor and cockeyed affection for rural folk is on display, but his attempt here to blend the citified angst of "Ally McBeal" (co-star Bridget Fonda was Kelley's first choice as that series' lead) with the countrified absurdisms of "Picket Fences," plus bits out of the Peter Benchley playbook, doesn't hold water.

Standard-issue directorial approach is perfectly in keeping with a script whose natural berth is on the tube.

Boilerplate crime comedy.

Has the stench less of rotting flesh than the whiff of a thoughtless quickie.

Admirably jostles and upends the fatigued killer-for-hire genre.

Utterly lacking the drive and roller-coaster energy expected of top action pics, this latest try at repackaging "Speed" is a Kmart version of a Jerry Bruckheimer production.

Although Erica Beeney's script beat out more than 7,000 entries, the screen version dulls her potentially distinctive voice with deadly doses of sentimentality.

Imposter is a penny-pinched "Blade Runner," a stubbornly unexciting ride into the near future.

Ridiculous would-be thriller.

This tale of mismatched lovebirds begins with considerable charm but eventually loses its winning ways with an excess of ridiculous elements.

Functional if thoroughly uninspired movie. Because it clings to the comedy-action template of "48 Hrs.," pic feels like it could have been made 15 years ago.

Interesting structure provides pic with plenty of opportunities for social satire, human comedy and chance encounters, but few setups are ever dramatically fulfilled.

The more Marc Fusco and co-writer Michael Garrity's script aims for cleverness, the more it unravels.

Michele Maher's Garmento appears more shocked at the fashion industry's cynical side than moviegoers are likely to be, making its drama of corruption a preordained snooze.

A comedy that starts the date in a frisky mood but sours before it's time to kiss goodnight.

A woefully under-realized story of small-time boxers enjoying perhaps their last moment in the spotlight.

The proper mix is never found. Ill-conceived and expensive project that winds up looking like a bunch of talented thesps slumming it.

Though it can't hide occasionally crude dramatics, pic is an undeniably bold and daring tragedy.

The politics of homophobia and child molestation receive a badly misjudged tweaking in Peter Paige's writing-directing debut, Say Uncle.

Thesping and production values are solid and sometimes even attractive, but pic's overall American-style gloss becomes extremely odd and discomforting given the setting.

A pleasantly tuned vehicle for R&B star and budding actor Usher.

Except for Eisenberg's superb comic timing and his ability to make the familiar seem interesting, the high school scenes play like "Scream" outtakes.

Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, The Big White is DOA. Despite a cast that generally reads like an indie production's wish list, pic's tendency to liberally borrow from the Coen Brothers playbook of comic mayhem is exceeded only by its lack of sense of what's actually funny.

Can't decide whether to be an eccentric black comedy or a middle-of-the-road diversion.

The filmmakers seem split between doing it straight and gleefully ripping up the genre, and never make up their minds.

There are stiff politicians and there are stiff political movies, but the rigidity of the White House-based fairy tale that is First Daughter is in a category even pollsters may have a hard time assessing.

Perhaps thinking he had a farce to play with, Flender encourages tons of mugging; by overplaying what should be underplayed, helmer and cast deliver a fatal stab to the intended comedy-horror.