As I watched this movie, I thought about how important the hair is in Meg Ryan movies. Those adorable tousled curls in “City of Angels.” The feisty but vulnerable and equally adorable hairdo in “You’ve Got Mail.” The very serious and hardly adorable at all hairdo in “Courage Under Fire.” And now, in a movie where we need some seriously cute hair, I am sorry to say that it is an unfortunate jaggedy sort of thing that doesn’t work at all.

This is a movie about a modern-day New York woman with no illusions (just a few years ago, she would have been called a “career girl”) who meets up with a 19th century Duke, a guy who has never seen modern technology but who stands up when she leaves the dinner table. It is a perfectly pleasant date movie with a cute premise and attractive stars, but it never quite works because (1) it is very predictable and (2) it is not very believable. Oh, I believe that a 19th century duke could travel through time. I just don’t know how he would fall in love with Meg Ryan in that hairdo.

The hair would not matter quite so much if the movie gave us anything else to work with. Ryan’s character, Kate, is just so brittle and charmless that it takes every smidgen of Ryan’s considerable adorableness quotient and every smidgen of Hugh Jackman’s considerable acting ability to help us believe that Leopold (Jackman’s character) is swept away by her. They make it work, but just barely.

The movie has some nice moments by a first-rate group of sidekicks and supporting actors, including Breckin Meyer as Kate’s actor brother (the lessons he gets from Leopold on how to approach the woman he has a crush on are delightful), Natasha Lyonne as Kate’s assistant, “West Wing’s” Bradley Whitford as Kate’s boss, and Liev Schrieber as Kate’s neighbor.

Parents should know that the movie has brief strong language and a joke about modern-day pooper-scooper laws. Characters drink and smoke. A supervisor’s behavior could be considered predatory, even sexual harassment.

Families who see this movie should talk about how bad experiences can make some people cynical. Why is Kate’s job important in telling us something about her and about the themes of the movie? If you could go back in time, where would you go and who would you like to meet? Which customs of olden days would you like to bring back?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (which Kate describes to Leopold) and, of course, a carriage ride through the park!

Keeping the Faith” is a romantic comedy for grown-ups, witty, thoughtful, sweet and funny. Always respectful of the sincerity and commitment of its two clergy lead characters and the serious issues they must resolve, it allows us to laugh with them at their struggles to live up to their ideals.

Jake (Ben Stiller) and Brian (Edward Norton, who also directed), have been best friends since grade school. Now in their early 30’s, they are still the closest of friends, with a lot in common — Jake is a rabbi and Brian is a priest. They provide a lot of support for one another as they both try to combine “an old world God with a new age spin,” and fill the seats of the sanctuaries with people, and fill the hearts of those people with the joy of worship. They joke that they are “like those young cops who shake things up – ‘the God Squad.’’

Their other best friend was Anna, who moved away in 8th grade. When she calls to say that she is coming to town, they are thrilled. Though they suspect that she will no longer “be 88 pounds and listen to Leif Garrett,” they are dazzled by her transformation into a brilliant, leggy, blonde played by Jenna Elfman.

Amid a classic romantic triangle – well maybe a square, if you include God, or the restrictions imposed on clergy – the movie has some good things to say about the importance of maintaining tradition (“it’s comforting to people”) while trying to connect to people in changing times. And it has some insight into relationships (one character says, “It takes at least 10 years to get to know yourself well enough to stop being a total idiot”), and the way we make decisions about the future (another character explains that it is “a choice you keep making again and again and again”). Some things are more complicated than we think they are, and others are simpler. The trick is to be able to tell them apart.

It’s a dream cast. If Edward Norton and Ben Stiller really were a priest and a rabbi, converts would be lined up around the block. Anne Bancroft is terrific as Jake’s mother, and Eli Wallach and director Milos Foreman are fine as the older rabbi and priest who step in to provide some guidance.

It may not appeal to too many teens, but families of those who do see it should take it as an opportunity to discuss their own views of religion and intermarriage. They may also want to discuss whether it is possible, honest, or wise to enter into a sexual relationship with the intention of not becoming romantically involved, and the complications of failing to be honest with others, or with yourself.

Parents should know that there is a joke about an 8th grade “shoplifting club,” a character responds to heartbreak by getting very drunk and behaving boorishly, a priest confronts conflicts about celibacy, and there are many sexual references, including fairly explicit sex viewed by the characters through a window.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “You’ve Got Mail” and the movie it was based on, “The Shop Around the Corner.

Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr) hires the best “white hunter” in Africa (Stewart Granger as dashing Allan Quartermain) to help her find her husband, who was lost searching for the legendary King Solomon’s diamond mines. At first, he refuses, saying that women have no place on safari. When she offers twenty times his usual fee, he accepts, but he remains skeptical about her motives and about her ability to survive the trip. In the traditional “road movie” fashion, they develop respect and affection through their adventures. This is the best of the many versions of the classic adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard. The story (and the performances) are a bit creaky, but it is an old-fashioned technicolor spectacular, with breathtaking and Oscar-winning cinematography. Filmed on location in Kenya, and the then- Tangynika and Belgian Congo, the out-takes from this movie were used in several other movies, including the otherwise poor 1977 remake. The footage of the landscapes and of the animals is strikingly clear and vivid, especially an unforgettable shot of a just-uncurling brand-new baby alligator and the scenes of the Watusi dancing. NOTE: Some children may be disturbed by the violence, and others may be upset by the scene in which Elizabeth Curtis admits that she did not love her husband, and that she is seeking him out of guilt rather than devotion.

Jet Li is always a pleasure to watch, even in this silly story about a Chinese spy befriended by an American prostitute on a mission in Paris.

No longer the pretty boy in the equally silly but more romantic “Romeo Must Die,” this time, in a story he created, Li lets us see some chicken pox scars on his face and he lets us see him get knocked down a few times, too.

But don’t confuse that with realism. This is still a ridiculous fantasy story about an evil policeman named Richard (Tchéky Karyo) who seems to be behind most of the crime in Europe. Richard runs prostitutes and deals in drugs. And when the Chinese government sends a representative to help investigate drug traffic into China, Richard kills his Chinese contact and frames the representative, whom he insists on calling “Johnny.”

All of this is, of course, just a thin excuse for extensive and sometimes inventive fight scenes, featuring lots of punching and kicking and also injury and death by grenade (which blows a guy in half), laundry irons (applied to faces), automatic weapons, chopsticks to the throat, a billiard ball to the head, and some tiny acupuncture pins with devastating effects. My favorite encounter was when Li, chasing through the police station, locks himself inside a room only to turn around and discover that he is facing an entire class of cops who are in a karate class.

Parents should know that the movie is extremely violent and very graphic, with many gross, bloody deaths and behavior that is reckless to the point of insanity. Richard makes Al Capone look like a consensus-builder. Even most movie bad guys are not as out of control as Richard, who wildly shoots automatic weapons into crowds of civilians. Li made headlines the week before the film was released by recommending that parents not allow their children to see the movie, which is rated R for extreme and graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references and situations. This is good advice.

Families who do see the movie should talk about how Jessica, an American girl from North Dakota, made the foolish choices that left her a heroin-addicted prostitute and kept her away from her daughter. What other options did she have? What will happen to her after the movie ends?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Jet Li in Romeo Must Die and Lethal Weapon.

“K-Pax” has a couple of daunting movie cliché obstacles to overcome: the only-in-movies “land of cute crazy people” setting and the always popular “patient heals the doctor” theme. Despite all of that and an unwise decision to tie things up too neatly at the end, the film manages to make it work, thanks to outstanding work by stars Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges and a script that is warm, witty, and genuine.

Spacey plays Prot, who is committed to a mental hospital when he says that he is from another planet called K-Pax and that he traveled to Earth on a beam of light. He begins treatment with Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges). When Mark hesitates to categorize Prot as delusional, one of the other doctors asks, “What’s your diagnosis, jet lag?” To believe Prot’s claims would require abandoning fundamental beliefs about time and space. But his story is so complete – and so enticing – that Mark is determined to find out the truth, more for his own sake than for any therapeutic benefit to Prot.

Mark is not the only one enthralled by Prot’s stories of his home planet, K-Pax. Mark’s astronomer brother-in-law, despite his commitment as a scientist to rational empiricism, is so intrigued by Prot’s answers to his questions that all he can say is, “I don’t know what I believe. I only know what I saw.” Prot’s fellow patients begin to clamor to go back to K-Pax with him. It is not because anything he says makes K-Pax especially appealing – according to Prot, reproduction on K-Pax is uncomfortable, there is no such thing as family, and they don’t have anything as delicious as our produce – but because Prot himself is so appealing. There are indications that he may not be human: in addition to his extraordinary knowledge of astronomy, he has a superhuman sensitivity to ultra-violet light and seems impervious to anti-psychotic medications. But the most important evidence that he is not human could be that he is just too pleasant to be from Earth. He greets everyone by name and he really listens. He is not distracted by conventional beliefs and looks at the world as an outsider, which gives him great insight. Patients believe he can heal them, and Mark almost begins to believe it, too. When Mark’s boss asks him “why choose this one to save?” Mark replies, “I don’t know. Maybe he chose me.”

Director Softley has a delicate touch. Sunlight splintered by a prism, a child’s ruby slippers, Spacey is outstanding, as always, resisting the temptation to make Prot too adorable. The subtlety and grace of his performance are astonishing. Bridges does a fine job as the doctor, and his scenes with Spacey make the movie.

Parents should know that the movie has brief strong language, social drinking, and references to teen pregnancy, rape, and murder. There is a terrible crime, mostly offscreen, but we see bodies and blood. A child is briefly in mild peril. Patients and medical staff of different races and both genders work together in an atmosphere of professional respect.

Families who see this movie should talk about how people react to unthinkable tragedy and how being an outsider can give someone insights that others miss. Why did everyone want to go to K-Pax? Why do we see the reflections of Prot and Mark merge before they ever speak to each other? Why did Prot say that we have within us the power to heal ourselves? What did that mean about his own need to heal? Why do both the Mark and the sheriff say that they do not want to know the truth? Some families may want to talk about Mark’s unprofessional (and unrealistic) behavior in treating Prot.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy seeing Bridges as an alien in Starman, Richard Dreyfuss as a man drawn to follow a spaceship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind…, and that greatest of alien/human friendship stories, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial They will also enjoy John Travolta as a man who mysteriously becomes super-intelligent in Phenomenon, Barbra Streisand as a patient who teachers her psychiatrist about something beyond the rational world in the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. And they might like to see James Stewart’s acclaimed performance in Harvey a gentle comedy about a man who believes his best friend is a six-foot-tall rabbit with magical powers, and Captain Newman, M.D. about a dedicated WWII-era army psychiatrist (Gregory Peck).