BILLY ELLIOT --

Bell's dead-on performance fills Billy Elliot with scenes of credible, heartfelt emotion. Granted, the film possesses more than its share of trite melodrama. Luckily, our most powerful images from the film remain focused on Billy's lively dancing. It's how it should be. After all, Billy Elliot owes its brassy entertainment to its bouncing, boy hero. -- SR (Rated R.)

BLOW DRY -- (Grade: B) The latest British sleeper brought to us by the Brothers Weinstein at Miramax is an inside look at the spirited competition within the hair styling community -- a decidedly misrepresented bit of pageantry behind its more glamorous cousins in beauty and dance.

Blow Dry has all the genre troupes: the multiple rounds of "talent," simple-minded deceptions and last-minute appearances. There is also the expected human drama: broken relationships involving new family dynamics; orientations that need to be mended, long-standing contestant rivalry, hometown pride staked in the local entry, and the swelling bud of new love across enemy lines. Will the style and form hold?

It's a messy do, but with a solid Brit cast including Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson and Rachel Griffiths along with hip but cute American youngsters Rachel Leigh Cook and Josh Harnett, the movie has a certain easy charm. No one seems overly concerned about the end which is baldly set from the beginning. Blow Dry seems to say, until we come up with new clichés, let's not take the old ones too seriously. Not a new look, but worth the cost of the trim and not an embarrassment when you leave the chair. -- TT Clinkscales (Rated R.)

CAST AWAY -- (Grade: B) Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) re-teams with Tom Hanks for a challenging, Robinson Crusoe-like tale. Granted, the film's set-up is rather ordinary. As FedEx troubleshooter Chuck Noland, Hanks sets out to portray a man ruled by time and schedules. Despite Hanks' earnestness, one never gets a firm grasp of Noland's psyche. It's up to Hanks' average Joe personality to pull us into his drama. The highlight of Cast Away is its middle act where Hanks becomes the star of a one-man show. It's these mostly dialogue-free scenes, where Noland is trying to survive alone on a desert island after his plane crashes, that make the most dramatic impact.

Helen Hunt offers little support as the love of Noland's life. She's the one thing that's supposed to keep Noland strong. Still, that task quickly falls to a volleyball named Wilson.

Hunt's threadbare performance aside, Cast Away regains its humanistic step with a surprising finale that's best described as transcendental. In an era where the Crusoe legend is defined by TV's Survivor, Zemeckis and Hanks offer a thoughtful alternative. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

CHARLIE'S ANGELS -- (Grade: B) Three hot women, kicking ass and looking good. That's what Charlie's Angels is billed as and that's what it delivers. Anyone looking for greater meaning in the movie, or hoping to deconstruct it as reflection of our world is missing the point. If you're willing to sit back and digest the eye candy -- so much eye candy, in fact, that your retinas will get cavities -- Charlie's Angelsis pure escapist fun. About the only socially responsible message to derive from it is not to use guns. The Angels don't. Of course, the Angels don't use bras either.From the first big fight scene, a slick, Matrix-like karate ballet choreographed to Prodigy's "Slap My Bitch Up," it's clear that the movie is all about visual payoffs. Director McG's photography, while derivative of other recent blockbusters, seems fresh thanks to the stunning cast. Angels Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu never have looked so good. One can excuse the film for not having a brainy plot or a decent script, but Bill Murray's comic genius is mostly wasted and that's inexcusable. Expect this film to be critically lambasted. But no one expected this to be Sophie's Choice. It's more like Mission: Impossible on estrogen. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

CHOCOLAT -- (Grade: C) Juliette Binoche dazzles as Vianne, a pretty chocolate shopkeeper with a mysterious past. She's also a single mother whose spicy chocolates change prudish lifestyles of the inhabitants of a French village. I admire how Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog) directs movies that are unashamedly liberal. Chocolat, based on Joanne Harris' 1999 novel, is a film that qualifies as a democratic drama at a time when much of the nation is decidedly conservative.

Johnny Depp gives Binoche competition in the chiseled cheekbones department as a handsome gypsy passing through town. It's not long before he tweaks Vianne's own heart.

Like most moviemade couples, Binoche and Depp look great together. Unfortunately, their attractive looks never ignite any much-needed passion.

Despite a sweet, fairy tale-like ending, Chocolat never comes fully to life. By the closing credits, you feel as if Binoche's magical smile and winsome personality have been wasted. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON -- (Grade: A) Breathtaking action, incredible stunts, spectacular landscapes and a childlike sense of make-believe lifts director Ang Lee's Taiwanese epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the level of a fairy tale. Set among ornate palaces, teaming Peking streets and rural villages, the film evolves into a martial arts Western that's both poetic and spiritual. Warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is yearning to leave his fighting lifestyle behind, but when a young thief, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), steals Li's ancient sword, Green Destiny, Li gets pulled back into his warrior ways. Only Lu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), Li's longtime friend, looks capable of helping return Green Destiny from Jen and her mentor Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei).

Although working in the action genre, Lee once again emphasizes rich characters, substantial storytelling and humanistic ideals. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is momentous not because of the size of its spectacle. It's timeless because of the size of its heart.-- SR (Rated PG-13.)

DOWN TO EARTH -- (Grade: F) American Pie co-creators Chris and Paul Weitz tweak Warren Beatty's 1978 romance Heaven Can Wait into a one-joke social satire about a struggling black comedian who dies and returns to Earth as a white millionaire. The sorry target of the Weitz Boys' derivative comedy is real-life comedian Chris Rock. As Lance Barton, a Brooklyn bicycle messenger with show-biz aspirations, Rock receives the brunt of Down To Earth's laughless storytelling.Beatty's Heaven Can Wait was a cuddly remake of the comic fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but Down To Earth aspires to update past race-reversal comedies like Soul Man and Watermelon Man. Toss in a whiff of TV's The Jeffersons -- Barton's white-man body earns him a penthouse apartment in the sky -- and you'll have the jest of Down To Earth.

It's a stretch for Rock to play a struggling comedian. He's just too naturally funny. Still, Down To Earth manages to make Rock look clumsy in comparison to his real-life self. Dressed in a clownish wardrobe of golf pants and a sweater, it's clear that Rock has just been bamboozled by one awful comedy. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? -- (Grade: D) If only the movie were half as funny as its title. It might have been marginally watchable. Instead it's a moronic comedy with a few bright spots, but not nearly enough to save it.Jesse (That '70s Show's Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Road Trip's Seann William Scott) partied a little too hard last night. Problem is, they don't remember any of it, nor where they left their car. Now they have to deal with everything from transsexual strippers to angry girlfriends to pumped up jocks looking to do a little nerd-bashing. What's a dude to do?

Some folks sing the praise of the "stupid movie" genre. I just think they're stupid. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE -- (Grade: C) Uncle Walt might be trying too hard on this one. After Aladdin and The Lion King, the folks at Disney have tried to copy the formula so much that they forgot the central ingredient: heart.Self-centered Emperor Kuzco (voice of David Spade) is turned into a llama by his scheming advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt). Now he must regain his throne with the help of good-natured Pacha (John Goodman).

The Emperor's New Groove is a derivative, lackluster cartoon. It's Hercules all over again. The animation is fair and the story is mildly amusing. The one really good thing going for it is music by Sting. But don't be fooled; there are only a couple of songs in the whole film. Even Sting can't save it. -- RP (Rated G.)

THE FAMILY MAN -- (Grade: B) It's George Bailey redux. There's no better way to describe director Brett Ratner's (Rush Hour) Christmas drama. Trying to become a new version of It's a Wonderful Life is setting some intentionally high standards. Luckily, Nicolas Cage is the actor assuming the Jimmy Stewart position. Under the gaze of Cage's hound-dog gaze and heavy eyelids, The Family Man (co-written by David Diamond and David Weissman) turns social fantasy into a heartfelt tale of spiritual redemption.Fifteen years after dumping his college girlfriend, Kate (Tea Léoni), Manhattan executive Jack Campbell (Cage) receives an unexpected second chance after bragging to a convenience store robber (Don Cheadle) about his regret-free life. Campbell has all the trappings of success. But when he wakes up one Christmas morning and finds himself in a different life -- married to the woman he left behind, two children, a house in New Jersey and a job in a tire store -- Campbell discovers a new set of life priorities. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

15 MINUTES --(Grade: D) In sports, after an upset, they say that's why they play the game. The better team doesn't always win. It's the same in movies.Pair a legendary actor with a young stud and let them chew scenery in what could fairly be described as a nouveau Seven. Can't miss, right? Wrong! 15 Minutes manages to suck both the fun and edge out of its intriguing premise. If the acting has to be over-the-top, then don't try to be creepy. And if the plot forces a gritty tone, then don't compromise it with a trite, crapper of an ending.

Two Eastern European thugs find themselves the center of a sensationalized murder spree. Inspired by OJ, among others, they believe their "15 minutes of fame" will eventually acquit them. I think we're supposed to be turned on by the reality-TV feel of the movie, too much of which was filmed through a hand-held video camera.

15 Minutes is a major wakeup call. No actor -- not even a great like Robert DeNiro -- is infallible. It's sad to see him wasted. It's also a shame to realize that Ed Burns can't act. But that's why they play the game. -- RP (Rated R.)

FINDING FORRESTER -- (Grade: B) Veteran actor Sean Connery and newcomer Rob Brown team up for another mentor-student picture, similar to Good Will Hunting and Wonder Boys. Maybe it's true that there are no more original ideas left in cinema. Personally, I don't have a problem with that, as long as filmmakers appropriate well. In this case, Gus Van Sant, the director of Good Will Hunting, is allowed to borrow from his own movie. An underprivileged teen-ager from the Bronx (Brown) wins a scholarship to an Upper East Side prep school using both his academic and basketball skills. His adjustment is aided by a wealthy classmate (Anna Paquin). But his true friend is reclusive, Salinger-like author (Connery) who ends up becoming the missing father figure.

First-time screenwriter Mike Rich squeezes every bit of drama out of his time-honored tale. Thankfully, Van Sant treats the material delicately. Finding Forrester is one of the quieter Hollywood movies in a long time. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

HANNIBAL -- (Grade: B) In The Silence of the Lambs, our fear is that the bogeyman is watching our every move. In Hannibal, Scott's elegant, but less effective thriller, we obsess over the bogeyman and all that he does. In Hannibal, fetishism drives the plot, action and mood.

Ten years have passed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) escaped from custody. With those brief words, expectations reach a boiling point for director Ridley Scott's adaptation of Thomas Harris' Hannibal, the best-selling follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs.

Hopkins is creepier than ever as film's most elegant cannibal. Replacing Jodie Foster in the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling, indie queen Julianne Moore captures the cool discipline and all-business attitude that's so integral to the role.

Scott builds adequate suspense out of the bloody reunion between Lecter and Starling. After months of hype and innuendo, Hannibal succeeds as a gory manhunt drama. It's clear that Lecter continues to fascinate us. Welcome back, psycho. We've missed you and your well-mannered bloodiness. -- SR (Rated R.)

THE HOUSE OF MIRTH -- (Grade: A) Gillian Anderson is magnificent as Edith Wharton's cinched-waisted heroine Lily Bart. Anderson's somber performance captures Lily's morose emotional life in a heart-wrenching grimace. Director Terence Davies embraces all the significant themes of Wharton's novel astutely. The House of Mirth is a story of social standings and spiteful innuendo. But its woman-wronged melodrama ultimately revolves around Anderson.

Lily Bart (Anderson) is a poor relative determined to secure a wealthy husband. Her insecure finances and attempts at marriage lead to an involvement with a man (Dan Aykroyd) who tries to blackmail her. She is falsely accused of a relationship with another woman's husband. Lily's only hope lies with Lawrence Selden (Eric Stoltz), the man she truly loves and who is capable of rescuing her with an offer of marriage.

Some critics have dismissed Davies' The House of Mirth as just another lush, Merchant-Ivory-like costume drama that places more emphasis on interiors and less on storytelling. But Davies' great success lies in making a movie that has little to do interiors and more to do with Lily's interior life.

The burden of dramatic tragedy rests on Anderson, whose character supposedly embodies a transcendental sense of superiority. Basically, Lily is someone who feels that ultimately things will go her way. Wharton once described Lili as someone with an "incommunicable grace," and Anderson captures that beautifully. Thanks to Anderson's performance, The House of Mirth is anything but pretty, period cinema.. -- SR (Rated PG.)

MEET THE PARENTS -- (Grade: B) Robert De Niro plays Jack Byrnes, an ex-CIA operative who faces off against his daughter Pam's (Teri Polo) anxious boyfriend Greg Focker (a twitchy Ben Stiller) in the funny and fast-paced screwball comedy Meet the Parents.Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) finds the perfect comic foil in Stiller. It's impressive how he fumbles everything he touches in such believable fashion. But the true comic kingpin behind Meet the Parents is De Niro himself. Never has one dramatic actor turned his deadpan expression into such a rich comic asset. Meet the Parents is the first movie comedy to figure out how to make Robert De Niro's tough-guy personality seem funny. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

THE MEXICAN -- (Grade: B) Samantha Barzel (Julia Roberts) and her boyfriend, Jerry Welbach (Brad Pitt), yell at each other constantly. Sometimes Samantha shrieks and Jerry just listens. But their time together is always hysterical. Pitt and Roberts are only together for a handful of scenes in The Mexican. As a result, the film offers more comedy than romance. Luckily, for director Gore Verbinski's The Mexican, their separate adventures are clever, fast-paced and very funny. But it's Sopranos star (James Gandolfini) who surprisingly comes between celebrity co-stars Pitt and Roberts. A true scene-stealer, Gandolfini's performance as a soft-hearted hit man is the best thing in The Mexican.

Pitt plays Jerry, a slackerish bagman who is sent south of the border to retrieve an antique pistol known as "The Mexican." Of course, Samantha (Roberts) wants Jerry to leave the mob for more honest employment.

It's not long before Jerry's simple gangland errand turns badly. But things turn even more complicated after Samantha is kidnapped by a hit man (Gandolfini) to ensure the pistol's safe recovery.

Pitt has the best goofball stare of anyone acting in film today. He's a an entertaining doofus.

Roberts brings some of her Erin Brockovich-like physical verve to The Mexican. Roberts is earthy, matter-of-fact and believable as Jerry's frustrated girlfriend.

Gore Verbinski's last film was the live-action cartoon Mouse Hunt, but The Mexican has none of the Tex Avery antics that made Mouse Hunt so enjoyable. Instead, Verbinski has made one of the more subtle screwball films around. There are the requisite mistaken identities and double-crosses. Still, the film's attempt to balance bad relationships, bloodletting and gangster tomfoolery isn't entirely successful. There are times when Verbinski never seems sure what he wants The Mexican to be. Luckily, the jokes are lively, carefree and frequent. -- SR (Rated R.)

MISS CONGENIALITY -- (Grade: B) How do you keep a sexy Hollywood leading lady from seeming too out of touch with the masses? Miss Congeniality offers one possible answer. Sandra Bullock plays Gracie Hart, a hard-nosed FBI agent who would sooner cold-cock a man than get caught in an embrace with him. There is absolutely nothing glamorous about her life. She packs heat. She lives in a modest apartment and eats microwave dinners exclusively. She wallops the punching bag in her living room after an awful day at work.But just when you begin to feel bad for her and depressed in general, Bullock uncorks a surprising pratfall. Presto! Instant endearment. Gracie is offered career redemption if she will agree to go undercover at the Miss United States pageant. Seems a Unabomber-type assassin has targeted the ceremony as the site of his next bombing. If someone in the pageant is helping him, the Feds need someone inside to stop him. This is where the sight gags come into play.

There may be nothing funnier than seeing one of People magazine's Most Beautiful Women fall on her face. As a society, after all, we're just a bunch of jealous slobs. We like to see the demigods reduced to mortal blunders. Some of the hottest actresses working today already have figured this out, but none more than Sandra Bullock. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

MONKEYBONE -- (Grade: C) A long-time animator, Henry Selick's knack for the surreal invites comparisons to Guy Maddin, David Lynch, Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel. Monkeybone is Selick's first foray into adult storytelling, and it's clear some of his magical innocence is left behind. Fantastic images aside, Monkeybone is somewhat of a disappointment.

George-of-the-Jungle-man Brendan Fraser is love-struck cartoonist Stu Miley. After suffering a blow to the head, Stu is transported to a bizarre purgatory known as Downtown. In this bizarre netherworld, the nightmares of the living serve as entertainment.

But Stu is desperate to escape Downtown and reunite with his pretty girlfriend, Julie (Bridget Fonda). While he's trapped in Downtown, his cartoon alter-ego, Monkeybone (voice of John Turturro), escapes to Earth. Before long, Monkeybone's raging libido generates plenty of chaos. To make things right, Stu must outsmart Death (Whoopi Goldberg), escape Downtown and stop the obnoxious Monkeybone.

Fraser is an amiable clown. He's nerdy enough to pass as a slackerish comic artist. But the true star of Monkeybone is Downtown itself. A nightmarish version of an amusement park midway, Downtown is a place where Joe the Camel bums a cigarette and a curvy kitty-cat in a Louise Brooks wig works as a barmaid. Monkeybone celebrates cinematography and production design. It's a shame more time wasn't spent on the storytelling. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? -- (Grade: C) Over the last 15 years, the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) have created a unique cinematic universe. With O Brother, Where Art Thou? the brothers once again display their distinct talents, but with much less success. When the story begins, Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) have just escaped from a chain gang in '30s Mississippi. We then follow the trio through a variety of set pieces; everything from the cutting of a hit record under the moniker, "The Soggy Bottom Boys" to an encounter with Babyface Nelson (Michael Badalucco) to the sabotage of a KKK rally. All of these plot twists unfold with little interest in creating a substantial narrative. The complex story lines of their past films (Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo) are sorely lacking in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Longtime Coen cinematographer Roger Deakins is once again enlisted, and his services help immensely. But even Deakins can't overcome a miscast Clooney and the continued insistence of the Coens to stick to their increasingly ironic stance. Oh yeah, it's based on Homer's Odyssey. -- Jason Gargano (Rated PG-13.)

RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT -- (Grade: B) What does this say about the world we live in when kids' movies like Recess are far and away more intelligent than teen/young adult movies? Perhaps the "dumbing down" of America is more accelerated than we thought. Recess is a fun, tight little movie. It moves quickly, packing in loads of mostly innocuous jokes that are worth a few chuckles. Unlike any family film since Chicken Run, Recess appeals to both targeted generations. Any kids' film featuring a Classic Rock soundtrack, a "60s flashback and James Woods is bound to keep parents entertained.But the plot is all for kids. While the whole gang (the same one from the Saturday morning Recess cartoon) is enjoying summer vacation, an evil genius (James Woods) is cooking up a global-freezing scheme to end summer vacation forever. It's, of course, up to TJ (voice of Andy Lawrence) and his ethnically and socially diverse pals to save the day.

The animation quality falls somewhere between Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, but the writing is better than either. Its refusal to simply be a kids' flick is what ultimately saves it. -- RP (Rated G.)

SEE SPOT RUN -- (Grade: C) I don't know how child-appropriate a movie is when a running gag involves a gangster who loses a testicle in a dogfight. If I'm squirming over the bad taste, I can't imagine the parents who later have to explain the joke.It's a shame the makers of See Spot Run didn't lose the adult humor in this otherwise sweet and fun film. Sure, you're guaranteed an audience laugh when you have explosive zebra fart jokes, but is that what you want people remembering?

Slightly lost in all the fun is the mildly charming tale of kid who needs a father and a man who needs to grow up. Angus T. Jones has all the requisite cute traits to pull off the part of the boy. And David Arquette may be the perfect actor to play the dim man-child.

Let's not forget dear Spot. This is, after all, a dog movie. Or is it? When Spot isn't fetching balls, he fades a bit into the background. Which is fine, because See Spot Run doesn't need any more crude comedy. That would be nuts. -- RP (Rated PG.)

SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE -- (Grade: B) In Shadow of the Vampire, E. Elias Merhige and writer Seven Katz's homage to pioneer filmmaking, comedy mixes delicately with horror. The film legend behind Merhige's fantasy is German filmmaker F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the silent film that introduced Count Dracula to moviegoers. Nosferatu starred German actor Max Schreck as Count Orlock, a character based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Shadow of the Vampire proposes the idea that Schreck was a real vampire, intent on wreaking havoc on Murnau's set. Thanks to Dafoe's stand-out performance as Schreck, it's a premise we're willing to accept as true.There are plenty of laughs in Shadow of the Vampire. Malkovich is droll and eccentric as Murnau. Like Being John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire allows the veteran actor to be completely silly. It's a challenge Malkovich meets wonderfully.

But in terms of comic moments, Dafoe gets to deliver all the best lines. His verve ultimately steals the eerie spotlight as the creepy Schreck. As he has done so often throughout his career, Dafoe completely transforms himself into somebody else.

Merhige pays homage to Nosferatu with his own visual experimentation. Shadow of the Vampire is a movie in love with the art of moviemaking. For film buffs who feel the same way about the silent classics, it's impossible to resist. -- SR (Rated R.)

SUGAR & SPICE -- (Grade: F) Handy rule of thumb: Any film that ends on a fart joke is not good. That last joke is priceless real estate. It sums up the comedy in one moment. So it's somewhat fitting that Sugar & Spice ends with gas.While the premise, cheerleaders robbing banks, is fun and fresh, the script is tired and old. Relying on forced, sophomoric humor, Sugar & Spice doesn't even try to be creative. It's all about the cheap laugh. The characters aren't even interesting. The brain. The rebel. The virgin. Didn't The Breakfast Club teach us something about stereotyping teens?

The young actresses try their darnedest to make the script work. Marley Shelton, as pregnant homecoming queen Diane Weston, has the same doe-eyed innocent beauty that launched Heather Graham's career. And Mena Suvari, not that far removed from her American Beauty performance, shows some moxie as the feisty Kansas Hill. It's too bad the movie fails their talents.

It's like the girls are smart-mouthed just for the sake of being smart-mouthed. That's not clever. That's real life. And I wouldn't pay nine bucks to listen to teens talk. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

SWEET NOVEMBER -- (Grade: D) Sara Deever (Charlize Theron) wears clunky shoes. Her San Francisco apartment is filled with vegan food. More importantly, she takes a new lover every month in order to help these guys improve their lives. You could say Sara is something of a free spirit.Sara's quirky life changes after she meets workaholic ad executive Nelson Moss (Keanu Reeves). Nelson is the 30-day boyfriend who becomes Sara's November tenant. It's expected that these two opposites would find each other attractive. In laughable dramas like Sweet November, clichés are essential to the soap-opera storytelling.

I've yet to figure out why director Pat O'Connor would want to remake the 1968 romance Sweet November. Even the most diehard fans of movie melodrama consider Sweet November utterly forgettable.

Theron makes the most out of walking in the footsteps of Sandy Dennis' 1968 performance. Every scene gives her the opportunity to act silly. She's a real sassy lassie. Midway into the film, it's impossible not to be bothered by Theron's screwball hysterics. In Sweet November, Theron becomes the ultimate over-actress and the film suffers as a result.

Reeves is as stiff as ever as the career-driven Nelson. While there are moments when Reeves capitalizes on his wooden personality, it's clear that Sweet November would have benefited from a more personable leading man.

At the very least, Theron and Reeves look great in the bathtub together. Too bad that Sweet November doesn't spend all of its time covered in bubbles. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

TRAFFIC -- (Grade: A) Its cross-country array of locales gives Traffic, director Steven Soderbergh's complex, drug-trade thriller, the visual quality of an epic drama. Traffic flips nimbly from a courthouse in Columbus to the Mexican border town of Tijuana, from crack houses in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to upscale homes in La Jolla, Calif., and ultimately, the White House itself. From the film's first moments, Traffic never rests from its multi-layered storytelling.An extensive ensemble cast helps Soderbergh tell his complex story. Michael Douglas is the big name as conservative Ohio State Supreme Court Justice, Robert Wakefield, but it's Benicio Del Toro who grabs hold of Traffic's dramatic spotlight as conflicted Tijuana cop, Javier Rodriquez.

Sharp, stylish, and well spoken, Traffic is rightfully a Soderbergh film. In an era best represented by mindless blockbusters, Traffic is literate and substantial, a political drama that thrives on screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's script. Soderbergh deserves an award just for keeping everything running so smoothly. -- SR (Rated R.)

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