THE GRUDGE (PG-13) The latest example of Hollywood's current obsession with remaking Japanese horror films, The Grudge gives us Sarah Michelle Gellar wandering through a haunted house that puts its inhabitants in a state of rage so all-consuming they die from it. Also stars Jason Behr and Clea Duvall. (Not Reviewed)
I ♥ HUCKABEES (R) What director David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings) seems to be aiming for here is an experimental fusion of screwball comedy and one of those "meditations on identity" that Charlie Kaufman knocks off in his sleep. The result is a movie that takes enormous chances and falls flat on its face, filled with wall-to-wall existentialist hair-splitting that a crueler critic might unkindly refer to as philosophical masturbation. The story here, or as close to a story as Huckabees gets, involves a lank-haired environmentalist-cum-poet named Albert (Rushmore's Jason Schwartzman) who hires a couple of wacky "existentialist detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) in order to find out why he suddenly feels that life has no meaning. The movie alternately meanders and zips through a series of verbal and visual non sequiturs, related in a scrambled, non-linear manner that apes the patterns of human memory, not unlike a more frenetic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that wears its philosophical pedigree on its sleeve. The movie is smart as a whip, in an almost painfully self-conscious way, but it's not particularly interesting, and the wordplay — non-stop chatter, really, shtick — ultimately begins to take on the abrasive quality of white noise. The rapid-fire, often overlapping dialogue in Huckabees has the ring and rhythm of classic screwball, but little of the wit, and Russell's apparent strategy of transforming the characters' angst into the stuff of madcap entertainment is a noble experiment that simply doesn't work. I ♥ Huckabees seems far less concerned with being focused or funny than with simply being "different," and we wind up feeling like we're being subjected to a Where's Waldo? for the cerebral set. Also stars Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts and Isabelle Huppert. 
1/2
LADDER 49 (PG-13) Well made and horribly depressing, Ladder 49 leaves the viewer with an admiration for the craft that went into the film and a desire to somehow purge it from memory. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a Baltimore firefighter injured and trapped in a burning high-rise. As he drifts in and out of consciousness and the other members of his crew desperately try to find and rescue him (much yelling over saws and fire), the film presents us with an overview of his life. The standard "rookies' first day," firehouse-hazing and love-interest scenes are all present and accounted for, and the structure will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a movie. However, the acting and direction rise well above the material, and therein lies the dilemma. While it is easy to admire Ladder 49 for its technical prowess, it's also tempting to leave the theater in search of a stiff drink — or a noose.
—Joe Bardi
MEAN CREEK (NR) Mean Creek tells of a prank gone wrong, a trip down river with a canoe full of kids plotting revenge on a bully for beating up one of their circle. Everyone reveals a bit more of themselves than expected during the trip — most of all the bully, who turns out to be spoiled, obnoxious and annoying but not nearly the monster everyone was expecting — but, in the tradition of all good noir tragedies, a plan once put into motion is too late to stop. The movie generally avoids heavy-handed moralizing of the After School Special sort, but there's no mistaking it as a morality tale, with the weight of the characters' actions taking on a terrible mass that eventually colors and crushes everything in its path. Writer-director Jacob Estes has cobbled together what is basically a very promising first feature, reassembling some tried and true elements into an interesting new shape. Stars Rory Culkin, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck and Carly Schroeder. Held over at Burns Court Cinemas. Call theater to confirm. 1/2
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (R) A beautifully observed road movie/buddy pic that gains considerable resonance from the fact that one of its central travelers is a young Che Guevara, sowing a few wild oats before becoming the revolutionary poster-boy who went on to famously fight in Cuba and die in Bolivia. The movie follows 23-year-old medical student Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal as a sweetly sincere pre-Che Che), and his slightly older friend Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna), as they embark on an epic journey across Latin America on a rickety motorbike dubbed "The Mighty One." The early portions of the film are loose and lively and not in a particular hurry to get anywhere fast, unfolding as a vibrantly colored On the Road, with our heroes revealing themselves as less interested in earth-shaking self-discovery than in the simple pleasures of having a good time. The movie becomes more downbeat but no less engrossing as it progresses, with Director Walter Salles (Central Station) tracing with admirable subtlety the young Guevara's changing connection to the world and his budding political consciousness. Also stars Gustavo Bueno, Mia Maestro and Jorge Chiarella.
