Stephen Miller

What may have looked good on paper across the Atlantic gets lost in the translation to our shores.

Rapp's snappy, loquacious and catty script gives the predominantly female ensemble plenty to chew on.

It's Deneuve, in little more than a cameo, who commands your attention and doesn't release you until she's good and ready.

Lawrence -- with the help of Oscar-winning makeup effects artist Greg Cannom ("Mrs. Doubtfire") -- has created yet another prosthetic screen wonder.

Chanteuse Toni Braxton, making her feature film debut as Juanita, a snobbish Slocumb relative, delivers a scene-stealing turn.

The non-professional actors do their schmaltzy best with Gatlif and co-writer David Trueba's sparse dialogue and what appears to have been Gatlif's very limited direction.

A satisfying hatchet job on the spooky -- or as the Wayans see it, kooky -- world of supernatural pictures.

Who'd have thought you'd find yourself caring so much about the fate of a flock of fryers? This chicken has legs -- lots of them.

Sharply observed, bittersweet and suffused with the kind of detail that only someone who lived through the era could summon up, Crowe's script is funny, heartfelt and very cool.

The winning cast makes the twist-heavy plot plausible.

Documentarian George Butler ("Pumping Iron") wisely opted to stick to the cold, hard facts of the expedition's tale while layering in warmer material, like interviews with historians and descendants of the crew and narrator Liam Neeson's lilting bedtime-story delivery.

It's all surprisingly predictable. As for Sorvino, she can wear the clothes, but they don't necessarily make the man.

Surprisingly cohesive.

A sassy romantic battle of the sexes with a refreshing African-American slant.

Blue-ribbon acting from both the four- and two-legged performers.