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THE IN-LAWS While certainly no classic, The In-Laws is an enjoyable comedy that includes among its attributes a clever premise, a witty script that's packed with choice dialogue, two beautifully matched lead actors, and a supporting performer who makes off with the picture like a Bechtel bandit in the night. But enough about the 1979 version. The new In-Laws is a sorry excuse for a comedy, a movie that completely disregards all the elements that made its predecessor such a delight. Instead of Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, we get Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas, with Brooks cast as a meek podiatrist who gets caught up in the misadventures of his daughter's future father-in-law (Douglas), a CIA agent whose reckless behavior places them in numerous dire predicaments. This deadening action-comedy hybrid is neither exciting nor funny, and it further suffers from an embarrassing turn by David Suchet as a homosexual arms dealer who spends an exorbitant amount of screen time trying to get Brooks out of his pants so he can admire his "fat cobra" (Suchet is obviously meant to be this movie's scene stealer, but he's no match for the original's Richard Libertini, who was a hoot as an eccentric Latin American dictator). Forget the movie's wedding theme: On the contrary, funeral services are now being held at a multiplex near you. 
THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE The appeal of the Disney Channel's top-rated kids' show Lizzie McGuire can doubtless be traced right to its star, 15-year-old Hilary Duff. Duff plays Lizzie as part Lucille Ball, part Britney Spears (minus the sleaze factor) and part Julie Andrews, serving up a squeaky clean teen whose only flaw seems to be her excessive use of makeup. Perhaps inevitably, we now get the big-screen spin-off, yet while the movie should prove to be manna from sit-com heaven for the show's fan base of kids ages 6-14, there's not much here to excite accompanying parents. Like one of those two-part Brady Bunch or Happy Days episodes that were invariably shown during sweeps weeks, this rounds up the cast of TV regulars and transports them to a foreign setting -- in this case, Italy, which is where a class trip takes Lizzie, best friend Gordo (Adam Lamberg) and her other schoolmates. This sets the stage for a lame mistaken identity romp (Duff plays both Lizzie and an Italian pop star), yet Duff's vast appeal renders it harmless to the senses. Rating for its target audience: four stars. Rating for the rest of us:
THE MATRIX RELOADED Apparently, it's easier to build a better mousetrap than to build a better Matrix. Still, that won't stop worldwide audiences from beating a path to the box office to catch the second installment in this popular techno-trilogy. For all its attributes, Matrix Version 2.0 never quite rivals Matrix Version 1.0 -- in that respect, then, it's best not to compare it to its predecessor but to its competition in the action and sci-fi fields. And on that level, it's awfully hard to be disappointed by this second helping, which offers some intriguing food for thought as well as a pair of smashing action sequences. Picking up pretty much where the first film left off -- that is, on a future Earth in which machines have taken over and control mankind -- this one finds Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) facing a new gallery of villains -- as well as old nemesis Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) -- as they attempt to permanently "unplug" the governing computers. Recurring themes of reality vs. illusion and choice vs. destiny offer some interesting subtext, yet it's the central action set pieces that prove to be the real conversation starters. These two sequences -- one a battle royale between Neo and dozens of Agent Smiths, the other a highway chase -- are ballets of brute strength, not so much video game simulations (as many contend) as a tribute to the visceral impact of cinematic effects and how, when done right, they can envelop and enrapture us.
A MIGHTY WIND At the start of the latest "mockumentary" from writer-director-actor Christopher Guest (Best In Show, Waiting for Guffman), music promoter Irving Steinbloom has just passed away, and to honor his memory, his son (Bob Balaban) has decided to organize a live TV concert that would bring together the three 60s folk groups that Irving had championed back in the day. The New Main Street Singers, led by a perpetually chipper couple (John Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch), are happy to take part, as are the three guys who make up The Folksmen (Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer); more problematic is the acquisition of the formerly lovey-dovey duo of Mitch (Eugene Levy, who co-scripted with Guest) and Mickey (Catherine O'Hara), since Mitch had suffered an emotional meltdown and has been enduring life in a shell-shocked state. A Mighty Wind doesn't quite provide as many laughs as Guest's previous two pictures, yet the film does offer an acceptable tradeoff: There's a genuine element of poignancy surrounding the proceedings, and the lovely songs, all written by cast members specifically for this movie, add the icing on the cake. As an obnoxious band manager whose mouth travels a mile a minute but whose brain can only manage a yard a day, Fred Willard is back in scene-stealing mode; still, the performance that stays with you the most is the one by Levy, whose work conveys a tenderness that momentarily slices through the satire. 1/2
