Ruthe Stein

This is a movie of excesses that doesn't know when to settle down. It aims to be a slapstick comedy, a romantic comedy and a plain old romance but falls short of each goal.

For all the precision shooting, Autumn is a colossal misfire, a tedious film noir wannabe. It doesn't even qualify as film gris.

Sitting through Diggers is so tedious that you might find yourself envying the clam diggers. At least they get to be outdoors.

The young people in Nowhere spend a lot of time worrying about the world coming to an end. Watching these sour characters abuse themselves and one another, the more immediate concern becomes: When is this movie going to end?

Noirish thrillers live or die by their plot twists and dialogue -- talk literally being cheap compared to action shots. Unfortunately, the script by first-time filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson fails on both counts.

As bad as its title.

The biggest puzzlement about "What'' is what it's doing in major movie theaters around the country when it so clearly belongs on one of those small cable channels given to peculiar programming.

Mitchell may be another Russ Meyer -- a dubious honor -- but he's no Tony Kushner.

Annoying, soporific and singularly humorless.

A Western short on dialogue and long on pomposity, is little more than an extended chase scene down a snow-filled mountaintop to a desert floor.

Two guys panting over the same babe leads to tedium, despite a near-record number of overheated sex scenes.

Chock-full of holes.

The film is a particular disappointment considering its pedigree.

Pretentious drama.

From watching this meandering, stilted movie, anyone unfamiliar with Charles Dickens' novel would be not only disinclined to pick it up but also clueless as to why it's considered great.

It is crystal clear who screwed up this tortuously slow-moving romantic drama.

The prologue sets a simpleton tone that, distressingly, continues throughout.

The Fountain' never comes together. Like the time traveler at its center, it's all over the map.

It's as if a trumped-up biopic of Andy Warhol were to appear titled "Soup.''

Shoot 'Em Up is not only the title of Hollywood's latest descent into nonsensical mayhem but pretty much sums up the entire inane plot as well.

The dreary teen drama Step Up appears to be cobbled together from bits and pieces of successful movies.

An annoying little film that attempts to be lascivious but is merely ludicrous.

A bigger mess than the gas crisis.

A Christian-themed film about redemption with almost no redeeming qualities as entertainment.

A disappointing sequel to the far funnier "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

It would require a near-lethal injection of nitrous oxide to induce laughter.

Although well intentioned, has the superficial gloss of a TV movie of the week.

A mess, and that's really a shame.