Steve Simels

Mildly amusing and as obvious as it is good-natured.

While not for every taste, this often very funny collegiate gross-out comedy goes a long way toward restoring the luster of the National Lampoon film franchise.

You have to have a certain affection for any movie in which a stressed-out Mother Nature announces ominously, "Don't mess with me -- I'm pre-El Niño."

Charming, low-key ensemble comedy that recalls the films of both John Cassavetes and Woody Allen, which is to say it's a loosely structured, quasi-improvisational saga about a bunch of New Yorkers obsessing about relationships.

It may not be as epochal a piece of work as "Mean Streets," but packs what feels like a real-life punch none the less.

If this were a more mainstream film with a shot at a wider audience, we'd probably be talking Oscar nominations for Futterman and Ball.

A reasonably entertaining way to kill an hour and a half.

Without question the breeziest viewing experience now available at a multiplex near you.

This mix of sweat and uplift in the Civil Rights era doesn't quite come off, despite some strong performances and the fact that it's based on a genuinely inspirational true story.

Vince and Cesar have been written to evoke equal audience sympathy, so there's no suspense whatsover in the outcome of their climactic match-up, the brutal realism of Shelton's staging notwithstanding.

Comic Tommy Davidson, in particular, is hilarious as gangsta rapper Puff Smokey Smoke, who falls for Juwanna and then, in a twist lifted directly from the queen of all drag farces, 1959's "Some Like It Hot," decides he still loves her after she's exposed as Jamal. After all, nobody's perfect.

Your ability to overlook the film's myriad contrivances will ultimately depend on how you react to little De Roma.

Fans of cheesy '70s TV shows will also be pleased by Wonder Woman Lynda Carter's brief cameo appearance as the governor of Vermont.

Much better than you'd expect, largely thanks to an extremely game cast.

The aroma of hagiography is unavoidable.

Hallstrom's leisurely adaptation of John Irving's unconventional coming-of-age novel is so well crafted and intelligent that it feels churlish to point out that it's easier to admire than actually like.

The cast is uniformly excellent -- Pryce in simultaneously utterly horrible and a real hoot as the wildly egomaniacal paterfamilias -- but the film itself is merely mildly charming.

There's something inherently funny and surreal about Chinese kids speaking Singlish while trying to be goombahs from Brooklyn.

This megastar mix of CGI animation and live action is remarkably faithful to the spirit of the original.

Entertaining -- if predictable.

The film's center will not hold. Either crucial scenes were cut (perhaps for length) or Kapur has a problematic sense of narrative structure; sometimes it's unclear who's doing what to whom.

This is a smart and witty romantic farce that mixes sweet and sexy with surprising aplomb.

The film is at heart a look at a unique slice of Americana, particularly an opening montage in which we realize that football here is a cradle-to-the-grave proposition -- literally.

There's a certain built-in poignance to the end-of-an-era proceedings here, regardless of how frostily they're dramatized.

The lead girls are easy on the eyes, and comic Faizon Love, who plays one of Matt's non-surfing, sumo-wrestler-size teammates, nearly steals the show when the girls teach him a few of their better moves.

Unfortunately the whole thing is less than the sum of its parts, despite a frequently droll script and a great performance from Shandling.

William Shatner's comic timing helps him nearly steal the picture.

It's actually a sweet, often very funny story about a schlemiehl redeemed by love.