AGAINST THE ROPES The real-life story of Jackie Kallen, the first female boxing manager, is a captivating one, and someday I'd like to see a movie about it. In the meantime, there's Against the Ropes, which is "inspired" by Kallen's life but ultimately has as much to do with her story as Schindler's List did with the War of 1812. Of course, Hollywood frequently bastardizes history for the sake of producing a compelling yarn -- hey, whatever works -- but when what's put on the screen is far less compelling than the actual events, it's like shooting yourself in the foot but having the bullet pass through the kneecap as well. Ropes clearly fancies itself a companion piece to Erin Brockovich, but really, it's just a third-rate Working Girl, with Meg Ryan cast as a plucky working-class heroine confronting sexism and oppression at every turn. The movie's Kallen is forced to bide her time as secretary to a piggish boss (Joe Cortese), but her opportunity comes when she decides to take a chance managing Luther Shaw (Omar Epps), a street thug she feels has the potential to become a champion boxer. This boxing movie floats like a rhinoceros, but it had problems even before it cleared scripter Cheryl Edwards' hard drive. As written, Kallen just isn't a terribly interesting character, while the actions of Epps' drug-dealer-turned-pugilist aren't even consistent from one scene to the next. As for the cardboard villain, a short-fused promoter played by Tony Shalhoub, he's so ludicrously over the top that I'm surprised he never gets around to tying Kallen down on some railroad tracks. 1/2

THE DREAMERS Yes, Bernardo Bertolucci's adaptation of Gilbert Adair's novel has been awarded the NC-17 rating. And yes, there are copious amounts of full-frontal nudity (both male and female). But the puritans who will lambaste this film for being about nothing more than sex will largely miss the point. Sure, there's sex, but there's also politics, cinema, psychology, and the sort of ruddy-faced idealism that once upon a time fueled numerous motion pictures made by filmmakers with international aspirations. But even though the film is more ambitious than it initially appears, its overall success can't quite rival its heady intentions. Set in Paris in the explosive, culture-shifting year of 1968, the picture follows an American student named Matthew (Michael Pitt) as he hooks up with a pair of French siblings, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel). Holed up in their apartment, the trio chew the fat over such topics as Chaplin versus Keaton and the US involvement in Vietnam, although most of their time is spent engaging in emotional and sexual mind games -- often of a controversial nature. Neither the turbulent backdrop nor the kids' personalities are brought enough to life to make the overall movie much more than a passing curio. Still, this works most effectively as an ode to the way cinema infuses the lives of its fans, largely by allowing them to shut themselves off from reality, open their eyes to the world around them, or, as practiced by these characters, alternate between the two options. 1/2

50 FIRST DATES Even folks who don't like Adam Sandler (and they are legion) concede that The Wedding Singer is fairly decent, with cinema's top-earning frat boy subverting his obnoxiousness in pursuit of a sweet romance with Drew Barrymore. This new film features an even more intense love story between the pair, yet this winning hand is repeatedly set down in order to make more room for the sort of juvenile antics that will remind Sandler bashers why they hate him in the first place. Meshing Groundhog Day with Memento, this Hawaii-set comedy casts Sandler as Henry Roth, an aquarium vet whose habit of dating only tourists comes to a halt when he meets local teacher Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore). But Henry soon learns that a car accident has left Lucy with short-term memory loss, meaning that, since she can't remember him day-to-day, he has to start wooing her from scratch every time he sees her. Barrymore and Sandler again strike sparks together, and their chemistry is enough to turn this into an agreeable love story further enhanced by an unexpected ending. But perhaps mindful that the gushy stuff doesn't exactly appeal to the mallrats who make up Sandler's fan base, director Peter Segal and writer George Wing cater to the lowbrow by contributing gags about enormous walrus dicks, a perpetually horny character who may or may not be a woman (nobody can tell for sure), and waaay too much screen time for Rob Schneider as Sandler's vulgar best bud (though we do get to see him savagely beaten with a baseball bat, a small consolation). The picture still charms, but it has to work overtime to do so. 1/2

CURRENT RELEASES

ALONG CAME POLLY OK, so the stars have no chemistry together (Jennifer Aniston's channeling Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, Ben Stiller's channeling Ben Stiller in just about everything). And writer-director John Hamburg doesn't even begin to mine the comic possibilities of his premise, which examines the budding relationship between an overly cautious businessman who analyzes the risk factor in everything and an easy-going woman with a blind ferret and a spontaneous nature. Not to mention, the potty humor goes waaay overboard. Yet two factors save this from being a disaster: a terrific supporting cast, and Hamburg's ability to nail the little moments even as he's screwing up the big picture. These factors allow the film to provide more laughs than one would have initially thought possible. 1/2

BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS This doesn't feel like a sequel to the 2002 hit as much as a continuation, with the entire primary cast returning to protect the establishment from yet another outside threat. In the first film, it was a loan shark who wanted to turn it into a strip joint; here, it's a slick businessman (Harry Lennix) whose ambition to "upgrade" the neighborhood includes opening a chain salon (Nappy Cutz) directly across the street from the venerable family shop owned by Calvin (series star Ice Cube). No better and no worse than its predecessor, this likable, lackadaisical comedy proves more focused than the first film yet lacks much of its comic bite, with even Cedric the Entertainer (as opinionated Eddie) forced to marginally tone down his act. 1/2

THE BIG BOUNCE It wasn't that long ago that Owen Wilson was the cinematic equivalent of a mosquito: noisy, bothersome, and deserving of a good smack. Yet his blond, bland, surfer-boy shtick has grown on me, and indeed, he proves to be the MVP of this souffle-light adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel. As a small-timer running scams in Hawaii, he and former model Sara Foster make a sexy couple, and director George Armitage brings to the project the same degree of playful insouciance that informed his previous film, Grosse Pointe Blank. But with a running time just shy of 90 minutes, the feeling emerges that a third of the movie was left on the cutting-room floor, as evidenced by jarring transitions in plot and character development and the ill use of several actors (including Morgan Freeman). Gorgeous location shooting, though. 1/2

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT In this redundant sci-fi tale, Ashton Kutcher plays a troubled college student haunted by a horrific childhood that managed to incorporate pedophilia, a psychotic dad, a dead baby, and a dog set on fire. But after discovering that, by accessing the journals he kept as a kid, he's able to travel back to that period in time, he sets about changing the events of his life -- and in effect creates alternate realities about as dismal as the one he left behind. Initially intriguing, this quickly turns silly and then eventually wears out its welcome altogether: By the time Kutcher makes his umpteenth time jump, I was praying that we would all end up landing in a better movie. 1/2

CITY OF GOD Thanks to its four surprise Oscar nominations (including a nod for director Fernando Meirelles), one of the best films of 2003 has been re-released nationally, so there's no reason not to catch it the second time around. Based on actual events, this Brazilian import takes a hard look at a Rio De Janeiro slum and dissects the lifestyle of the youthful thugs who rule this "war zone" with a bloody fist. Admittedly, it's tough to withstand 130 minutes of continuous nihilism, but Meirelles and his contributors are so completely in command of this material (the storytelling moves like mercury) that it's impossible not to get caught up in their descent into Hell on Earth. 1/2

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING The plot can be dismissed by crotchety viewers as borderline soap opera -- in more modern times, its character dynamics could easily play out on the Ewing ranch in Dallas -- but this adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's speculative book about 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) and his 17-year-old muse (Scarlett Johansson) soars primarily because of its visuals, an appropriate strength for a movie about an artist. Vermeer's pieces are notable for their meticulous attention to detail as well as their astonishing capture of light and use of color; working in tandem with ace cinematographer Eduardo Serra and production designer Ben Van Os, director Peter Webber follows suit by transforming his film into a live-action facsimile of a Vermeer painting.

MIRACLE This Disney release is being promoted as "From The Studio That Brought You The Rookie And Remember The Titans," and that's clearly the best way to market this piece. Like those sports-illustrated endeavors, this one's also an acceptably middlebrow drama that asks nothing more of its audience members than to cheer at the appropriate moments and, if theater management doesn't mind, get a "Wave" going during the climactic Big Game. Here, the focus is on coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) and the 20 kids who formed the US Ice Hockey team that somehow managed to beat the formidable Russian squad during the 1980 Olympics. 1/2

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE This animated treat from France makes Finding Nemo look about as cutting-edge as an old Tom & Jerry cartoon. Its jumping-off point is a lonely little boy who, thanks to the support of his kindly grandmother, grows up to become an accomplished cyclist set to take part in the Tour de France. But after the lad gets kidnapped by the French Mafia, it's up to his granny and their aging pooch Bruno to rescue him; along the way, they receive unexpected aid from the title trio, elderly singing sisters who used to perform with Fred Astaire and Josephine Baker back in the day. Mere words cannot convey the sheer inventiveness of this enterprise, a melting pot of styles and storylines borrowed from (among others) Buster Keaton, Tex Avery and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. 1/2