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MULHOLLAND DRIVE Audacious, infuriating, and the sort of divisive movie we've come to expect from one of America's most idiosyncratic filmmakers, this actually began life as a TV series pilot that was quickly shelved. Seeking to then release it theatrically, Lynch secured backing from French financiers, shot additional scenes, and headed to Cannes, where he went on to win the Best Director prize. Like Lynch's Twin Peaks, this juggles a number of characters and plotlines, though the central one concerns the efforts of an aspiring actress (Naomi Watts) to help an amnesiac (Laura Elena Harring) discover her true identity. Just as the movie reaches the point when we expect everything to come together, Lynch goes ballistic in terms of time and characterization; the result is an unnerving watch that yields no easy answers but instead forces the viewer, in Memento mode, to mentally play the entire film backward and determine what's possibly real, what's probably a dream (a Lynch obsession dating back to Eraserhead), and where this ultimately leads. As an exercise in bravura moviemaking, as well as a commentary on the very nature of cinema itself, this works quite well, but on an emotional level, it's one of Lynch's most distant pieces, with practically all the characters being moved around the sets like so many chess pieces. It's only the unexpectedly complex portrayal by Watts that adds any lasting resonance to a work that, with apologies to Winston Churchill, can best be described as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

MY FIRST MISTER Like Michael Caine in the 1980s, teenaged Leelee Sobieski has recently been appearing in movies left and right, following September's The Glass House with Joy Ride and now this drama from actress Christine Lahti (making her feature film directing debut). One of those heartfelt efforts that means well but plays lamely, this stars Sobieski as 17-year-old Jennifer, a sullen teen who dresses in black, pierces practically every part of her body, and hates her divorced parents (Carol Kane and John Goodman). Seeking employment, she ends up working at a mall clothing store under the watchful eye of Randall (Albert Brooks), a fussy 49-year-old man with no friends but plenty of insecurities. After a rough start centered solely around a teen protagonist who's not terribly interesting (Jennifer's a far cry from Thora Birch's equally wild child in Ghost World), My First Mister comes alive as it explores the sometimes tense, sometimes tender, and always platonic relationship that develops between these two loners. But rather than honestly explore how such an unorthodox friendship might progress, screenwriter Jill Franklin cops out by revealing that one of them has been diagnosed with a terminal illness (but of course); this in turn leads to a climactic Hallmark moment that cracks our suspension of disbelief wide open. Sobieski is too wholesome (at least on screen) to be convincing as a miserable kid prone to self-mutilation, but Brooks is excellent as the emotionally cloistered older man.

SERENDIPITY It's the Christmas shopping season in New York, and Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) accidentally meet when they both reach for the same pair of gloves. They're instantly attracted to each other, but rather than follow through on their feelings (as Jonathan wants), Sara decides to leave it to fate: If they're meant to be together, they'll eventually discover the phone numbers they write down for each other and send out into the world (he, on a five dollar bill; she, in a used book). Cut to several years later: Although they're both set to marry other people, they each decide to take one last crack at finding the love that got away. The key question in any romantic comedy is this: Do we want to see this pair together? Sadly, it didn't matter to me as far as this film was concerned. Jonathan is a real find -- what woman wouldn't want a guy this witty and romantic? -- but it was all but impossible to take Sara seriously after she concocts the dopey scheme that sets the plot in motion (just give him your phone number already!). And while the audience's attention is supposed to be on the happiness of the principals, my mind kept drifting toward Jonathan's fiancee (Bridget Moynahan), a likable woman who, if Jonathan and Sara's search proves successful, will end up humiliated on her wedding day (no Happily Ever After for her, I suppose). It's a shame the picture's very premise seems forced, because the performances are engaging (Eugene Levy steals it as a terse salesman) and the dialogue extremely sharp. 1/2