Movie Guide

Director: Roger Kumble. With Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris. (96 min.)

"Just Friends" reeks of low-expectations but delivers big returns. Chris, a former fat kid who blossoms into a handsome music executive, returns to "Jersey" to woo his dream girl. On the way, the story breathes new life into tired topics such as high school sweethearts, sibling rivalries, and ditsy celebs. With Reynolds in the lead role, supported by a frenetic cast, director Roger Kumble wisely picks a brisk tempo from the get-go and never breaks cadence for long gags or gushiness. Reynolds's unfailing deadpan makes him the Chevy Chase for a new generation of National Lampoons. Grade: A
- Matt Bradley

Sex/Nudity: 12 scenes of innuendo and frank talk about sex. Violence: 1s slapstick scenes. Profanity: 69 expressions. Drugs: 6 scenes with drinking.

Director: Laurence Dunmore. With Johnny Depp, John Malkovich. (130 min.)

The advance word on "The Libertine" was so bad that I was rather surprised to find it - unterrible. As the depraved John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, Johnny Depp adds yet another sly sleazoid to his burgeoning portrait gallery. The 17th century Wilmot was like a junior-league Casanova, and his descent here from raunchy fop to syphilitic wastrel is lovingly detailed by Dunmore. That detail, however, is obscured by some of the darkest tableaux this side of the Bat Cave. Grade: B-
- Peter Rainer

Director: Chris Columbus. With Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs. (135 min.)

The musical "Rent" won just about every award known to man, and its tortuous route to Hollywood has been well documented. Now that it is at last on screen, my reaction is ... what's all the fuss? As directed by Columbus, Jonathan Larson's East Village reworking of "La Bohème" in the age of AIDS retains its calisthenic pathos, as well as most of its original cast, but you'd have to be a real Rent-Head (apparently their numbers are legion) to envisage Academy Awards in its future. As a new addition to the corps, Dawson is like a human Slinky. This is meant as a compliment. Grade: B-
- P.R.

Yours, Mine, & Ours (PG)

Director: Raja Gosnell. With Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo. (90 min.)

"Yours, Mine & Ours" is a remake of a 1968 movie of the same title, starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. But for audiences, the film's slapdash writing and slapstick performances by Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo look more like a faithful mimicry of every other "big family" family comedy, from "The Sound of Music" to "Cheaper by the Dozen." That's not to say that kids won't have a blast. True to its Nickelodeon roots, each scene oozes with sight gags, oddly astute pets, and gallons of goo. For adults, the films offers a bloated "Brady Bunch" covered in slop. Grade: C
- M.B.

Directors: Scott McGehee, David Siegel. With Richard Gere, Flora Cross. (104 min.)

Eliza (Cross) is an 11-year-old spelling prodigy. Her father, Saul (Gere), believes she communicates with God according to the precepts of Kabbalah, which hold that the alphabet contains the secrets of the universe. As Eliza advances to the National Spelling Bee championship, her mother becomes unhinged and her brother rebels by joining the Hare Krishnas. Saul is stocked with inner demons but, as is often the case with Gere, he seems to draw all his energies from the surface. "Bee Season," at its core, is about the ways in which family members wreak destruction on each other with the best of intentions. Grade:B

Director: Mark Dindal. With the voices of Zach Braff, Joan Cusack. (77 min.)

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