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DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY For devotees of dum-dum cinema, here's Dodgeball to placate the lowest common denominator while also allowing discerning filmgoers to slum in style. Oh, sure, writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber didn't have to look further than his weather-beaten VHS copy of Animal House for inspiration, and some of the jokes not only thud to the ground but then spend a few uncomfortable seconds writhing in agony. But when it has its game face on, this offers a satisfying number of laughs, characters that we care to follow, and cameo appearances that (in contrast to those in Around the World In 80 Days) are positively inspired. At a time when many ambitious studio films are aiming high and falling short, here's one that delivers on its low-pressure promise. 
FAHRENHEIT 9/11 Let's be honest: For better or worse, this will be viewed as a propaganda tool first and a motion picture second, and those with strongly held political views won't be swayed one way or the other by Michael Moore's filmic diatribe against the Bush family (it's Moore's hope that the "undecideds" who brave the film will theoretically end up handing the election to Kerry). But is it worth seeing? Certainly -- and not even so much because of its politics, but because of its compassion. As is often the case with Moore, the movie works best when he removes himself from the equation and lets his subjects hang themselves through existing news footage. Still, for all its political pelting, this is at its most gripping when it simply focuses on the innocent people whose lives have been destroyed either by the heinous terrorists or by the abhorrent policies of this administration. 1/2
GARFIELD: THE MOVIE A film about the fat cat star of one of the least inspired comic strips ever to line birdcages coast to coast? We're talking about an uphill battle, and this doesn't even make it past the footstool. As envisioned by creator Jim Davis, Garfield is an ugly, unseemly beast, and that pretty much describes this film as well. Small children will at least get their parents' money's worth -- they'll squeal with delight at the mayhem perpetrated by the computer-generated cat -- but this will feel like a slow crawl through broken glass for anyone old enough to have mastered the fine art of shoelace-tying. So is there anything positive to say about it? Sure: At least it's not Family Circus: The Motion Picture. Trying to live through a film version of that atrocious comic would exhaust all nine lives -- and then some.
KING ARTHUR This is being pushed as the true story behind the myth, but while many scholars now believe there may have been a historical basis for the age-old legend, I doubt many of its components worked their way into this piece of pure Hollywood hokum. Yet as fictional filmmaking goes, this offers top-flight entertainment for about half its length before slipping into pure formula. Even with Armageddon/Bad Boys producer Jerry Bruckheimer breathing down his neck, director Antoine Fuqua avoids fetishistic vanity shots and macho preening (these characters are manly enough without requiring artificial enhancement), but the movie's vitality eventually drains away, leaving nothing but cumbersome speeches and a dull climactic battle. As Arthur, Clive Owen continues to radiate genuine star power, but Keira Knightley gets shortchanged by her limited screen time as a warrior Guinevere. 1/2
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE A case study in high school geekiness, Napoleon Dynamite spends his days stumbling from one miserable encounter to the next, occupying a movie that often seems as unsure of itself as its protagonist. Napoleon himself isn't exactly ingratiating, and it's impossible to tell whether Jared Hess and his co-writer (and wife) Jerusha Hess mean for us to laugh with him or at him. And if the goal was to render an accurate portrait of the inner circles of high school hell, the film ends up diluting its potency with some unbelievable plot developments. Still, cruel or not, there's no denying that the picture is frequently funny, and newcomer Jon Heder delivers a fearless performance that's almost breathtaking in its wormy detail. 1/2
