If not quite as sharp as it could be, “Big Trouble” is still a sharp, funny movie. Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Berry, it has a terrific cast getting caught up in delicious comic chaos seasoned with a couple of howlingly funny wisecracks.

Tim Allen plays Eliot Arnold, a once-successful columnist reduced to writing ad copy after an altercation wiith his boss. He is held in contempt by his teen-age son Matt (Ben Foster), who is on a quest to “kill” a pretty classmate named Jenny (Zooey Deschanel) by squirting her with a water gun, part of a tag-like contest.

Meanwhile, Arthur (Stanley Tucci), Jenny’s stepfather, is the target of a less benign hitman. It seems that Arthur, a bag man for some bad guys, diverted some of what was in the bag into his own bank account. A couple of cops (Jeaneanne Garofolo and Patrick Warburton), a Frito-loving, tree-sitting, strong but sweet guy with a Jesus hairdo (Jason Lee), some Russians who deal weapons from the back room of a dingy bar, a nuclear device that looks like a garbage disposal, a remarkable number of televisions with their screens shot out, and a flock of goats all manage to play a part before things get resolved.

The translation of book to screen is uneven, primarily because the story is all situation and no character. Even with exceptionally strong personalities in the roles and a director with a refreshing combination of a laid-back tone and a brisk pace, the film still asks too much of the audience by wanting us to care about characters we hardly know.

Parents should know that the movie has comic violence (no one badly hurt), including shooting and scuffles. Characters lie, cheat, steal, smoke, drink, and use bad language. There are comic sexual situations (including a foot fetishist) and brief non-sexual nudity. The scenes involving airport security and a bomb on a plane, the reason the movie’s release was delayed after the terrorist attacks, may cause more twinges than laughter. The movie is at the upper end of the PG-13 rating, closer to an R.

Families who see this movie should talk about the relationship between Matt and Eliot and between Jenny and her mother and step-father. They should also talk about the decision faced by the film-makers following September 11. Should they have changed the story, in addition to delaying the release?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Rat Race.

This is the true — and heartbreaking — story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, players for the Chicago Bears, who were the first interracial roommates in pro sports, based on the memoir by Sayers.

Piccolo (played by James Caan) was not as talented as Sayers (played by Billy Dee Williams) but had enormous commitment, perseverance, and competitiveness in the most positive sense. He knew that trying to beat Sayers was what made him do his best. When Sayers was injured, Piccolo devoted himself to making sure that he recovered fully, because he wanted to beat Sayers at his best, not beat him because of the injury. Piccolo, trying to motivate Sayers to exercise his injured knee, calls him “nigger” in hopes of getting him excited. But it is such a ludicrous insult that both men collapse into laughter.

Sayers comes back, Piccolo is added to the starting lineup, and all seems fine until Piccolo becomes ill. It turns out that he has terminal cancer. The shy and reserved Sayers must learn to handle a devastating loss by keeping the best of Piccolo inside him.

This is a touching and inspiring film (originally made for television), with an outstanding musical score by Michael Legrand. The friendship and devotion between the two friends (and their wives) is very moving, as is the treatment of racial issues.

Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies, alone in Xanadu, his enormous mansion. His last word is the mysterious “Rosebud.” A newsreel gives us the highlights of his life, the wealthy young man who became an influential newspaper magnate and political candidate, who married first the niece of the President and then, after a scandal that led to the end of his political career, a singer. As the lights come up in a screening room, an editor says, “It’s not enough to tell us what a man did. You have to tell us who he was.” One of the reporters, Jerry Thompson, goes off to find out who Kane really was.

He meets with five different figures who were important in Kane’s life to try to understand the small mystery of Kane’s last word and the larger mystery of the man who was capable of both integrity and corruption, and who seemed to have no sense of peace or happiness.

Thompson begins by reading the journals of millionaire Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), now dead, the trustee who oversaw Kane’s early years. He explains that Kane’s mother (Agnes Moorehead) was a landlady who became wealthy when a prospector who had not paid his bill left her the deed to his mine. The mine turned out to be one of the world’s richest sources of silver. Mrs. Kane believed that her son would do better if Thatcher, a bank executive, took charge of his education and upbringing. She wanted him far away from his bully of a father.

Kane was a rebellious charge, and as soon as he reached his majority, he bought a failing newspaper, which he used to criticize Thatcher and the rest of the financial elite.

Next, Thompson speaks to Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), who worked with Kane at the newspaper. He talks of Kane’s high ideals, and his devotion to the individual struggling against the powerful. He also speaks of Kane’s first marriage and its disintegration (shown in a stunning series of scenes set at breakfasts over the years).

He then talks to Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton), once Kane’s best friend and the drama critic for Kane’s newspaper, who tells him of Kane’s second marriage, to Susan Alexander (Dorothy Commingore), a nightclub singer. Kane was determined to make her a success as an opera singer. When Leland wrote a bad review of her performance, Kane finished writing it for him, printed it, and then fired him.

Thompson visits Susan Alexander, now an alcoholic. She tells him about the isolation of her life with Kane, and her decision to leave him. Neither she nor the butler at Xanadu is able to tell Thompson anything about “Rosebud.”

The viewer, however, is permitted to solve the smaller mystery of Rosebud, but the answer only proves that there are never any simple answers to the complexity of the human spirit.

Kids who watch this movie can never know how revolutionary it was. Every one of its dozens of innovations, from the flashback structure to the use of sets with ceilings for additional authenticity, has become all but standard. No problem–there is time enough for them to study these aspects of the film’s brilliance if they decide to learn more about film history and criticism. For their first viewing of this brilliant work, (and for purposes of a family discussion) just let them focus on the story, the dialogue, and the characters, which remain as compelling and contemporary as they were more than 50 years ago.

Like Willie Stark in “All the King’s Men,” Kane begins as a populist and dies corrupt and alone, and we cannot help but hope for some explanation of how that happened, as Thompson does. Importantly, both Kane and Stark were based on real-life figures. Kane, of course, was based on William Randolph Hearst, the almost-impossibly wealthy heir to the largest gold and silver mine owner in America, who became a powerful publishing magnate. Kane might also have been based on Welles, only 25 years old when he co-wrote, directed and starred in this film, who then spent the rest of his life coming up with one excuse or another for why he never came close to that level of achievement again.

As we see in flashback, Kane was taken from his parents when he was six, and raised by the bank, or by Thatcher, who was close to the same thing. This created an emotional neediness and a deeply conflicted view of money and power that is one factor in his downfall. As soon as he had control over his money, Kane bought the newspaper, perhaps for the same reason Welles went to to work for a Hollywood studio; he said it was “the greatest electric train set any boy ever had.” A rebel by nature (as we see when he hits Thatcher with his sled, and in his glee in getting the staff to remake the paper over and over), he enjoys what H.L. Menchen referred to as the purpose of a newspaper: “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Afflicting the comfortable is great fun for him, especially comfortable people like Thatcher and his colleagues and his wife’s uncle, the President of the United States.

Like Stark, though, Kane’s taste of power makes him feel that the rules do not apply to him. He begins to feel that the ends justify the means. He does not just want to sway the electorate in favor of the candidate of his choice; he wants to be that candidate. As we see in a striking scene, with Kane in front of the enormous poster of his face, he loves the adulation of the crowd.

But as we also see, he is drawn to Susan Alexander (whom he meets as he is on his way to sit among his late mother’s effects) because she responds to the private Kane, the one who can wiggle his ears and make hand shadows. When he finds that he cannot have both Susan and public acclaim, he makes the critically wrong choice to try to make her into a publicly acceptable figure, an opera star. Leland writes an honest review (after getting drunk for courage). Kane’s last shred of integrity requires him to print the review, but he cannot bear to face Leland again.

Indeed, he cannot bear to face anyone. He retreats to Kanadu, where Susan Alexander spends her night working on jigsaw puzzles. She cannot bear it any more either and finally leaves him; he hardly notices, except to become even more isolated. That private self which she responded to, and which once mattered so much to him, has become as completely inaccessible as the little house inside the snow globe that crashes to the floor when he dies.

Families who see this movie should talk about what they think of Kane’s pledge on the first page of the newspaper. How do the scenes at the breakfast table tell you what is going on in Kane’s first marriage? Why do you think he said “Rosebud?” Who if anyone in the movie is satisfired with his or her life? How can you tell? Why does Kane change?

Fans of Phoebe Tyler on television’s “All My Children” will enjoy seeing a young Ruth Warrick as Kane’s first wife.

It is hard to say who is the more interesting real-life character, William Randolph Hearst or Orson Welles. There are many biographies of both, and they are fascinating reading for families to enjoy. The biographies of Hearst detail his reaction to this movie. His efforts to use his newspapers to discourage people to see the movie were just what Kane himself might have done. Everyone should make an effort to see San Simeon, the model of Xanadu, now open to the public in California.

There are also volumes of material about this movie, probably the most honored ever to be produced in Hollywood, and always at or near the top of critics’ surveys on the best film ever made.

Usually, the worst thing about a movie like this is the waste of talent. Yes, this movie wastes the talent of Orlando Jones (the guy from the 7-Up commercials who was terrific in “The Replacements”) and Eddie Griffin and especially the wonderful Vivica A. Fox. But worse than that, it wastes a wonderful idea. This could have been the movie that “Bamboozled” could not be, a satiric swipe at the way that black men, both upper-class and street, are seen by American society — and each other.

Orlando Jones plays a highly successful investment banker with a supermodel girlfriend. He is so uptown that he even has a financial last name — Chase. But that name takes on another meaning when he is framed for murder and has to get to Mexico, where he will be under the protection of a CIA agent who knows he is innocent. How does a black man become invisible? He switches clothes with a street hustler named Freddy Tiffany (Griffin). They take a train out of town, but when the bad guys come after them, they have to figure out another way to travel.

What humor there is comes from Chase having to “act black.” After one high-jiving performance, Tiffany asks, “What’s the last movie you seen, ‘Car Wash?'” Chase shows that he has “kept it real” on some level by out-dancing and out-foxing Tiffany. But no effort is made to take on the real underlying issues, with the possible exception of Tiffany’s comment when he is frisked by policemen: “Do I look like Puff Daddy?” and his point to Chase that “It wasn’t the brother in the suit but the suit on the brother that got you your so-called respect.”

The jokes are tired and so is the plot, with the least surprising twists and turns we are likely to see this year. We guess way ahead of the characters who will turn out to be a good guy and who won’t. It’s a terrible waste of the actors. It’s even a waste of the film.

Parents should know that the movie has a lot of violence, including shoot-outs. Characters use a lot of bad language, including the n-word. One character gives the finger.

Families who see this movie should talk about how we jump to conclusions based on someone dresses or speaks and what the movie can and could tell us about the way blacks are perceived by whites and by each other.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy the far superior comedy, “Silver Streak” and the even more superior thriller “North by Northwest.”

There is nothing more appealing to watch in a movie than one character teaching another, except perhaps when two characters teach each other. This reliable formula is well presented in this fine film about two great writers, one who has not published anything for nearly half a century and one who is 16 years old.

A mysterious character lives in an inner-city high rise. Known to the neighborhood as “The Window,” he has never been seen to leave the apartment, and the local teens are curious about him. Jamal (Rob Brown) accepts a dare to enter the man’s apartment. The man surprises him, and he races out, leaving his backpack behind.

The next day, the backpack is thrown out the window, and Jamal finds that his private journals have been extensively marked up with comments, ending with “Where are you taking me?” Jamal has never shared his writing or his intellectual curiosity with anyone. All his friends know is that he is a good basketball player. Jamal goes back to “The Window” to ask for more comments, and, very slowly, a friendship begins. It turns out that “The Window” is William Forrester, author of one of the greatest books of the 20th century, who has not published a book since the first one won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954. He is a recluse, with no communication with the outside world beyond his window, his television, and delivery of groceries by his publisher.

Meanwhile, Jamal’s test scores bring him to the attention of a posh private school, which offers him a full scholarship, though they expect more from him on the basketball court than in the classroom.

Some of the students at the new school are friendly, especially Claire (Anna Paquin). But a teacher named Crawford (F. Murray Abraham) suspects that Jamal’s work is not his own, and when Jamal embarrasses him in class, he accuses Jamal of plagiarism. The only one who can defend him is a man who has not left his apartment in decades.

The strengths of this movie are its themes and its performers. Newcomer Rob Brown is up to the level of the Oscar-winning trio (Connery, Paquin, and Abraham) who appear with him. In addition to the pleasure of seeing Jamal and Forrester spar with each other, teach each other, and support each other, there is the guiltier pleasure of those moments, in which Jamal takes off his Clark Kent/boyz in the hood disguise and lets his Superman intellectual energy and prodigious reading skewer those who dared to have preconceptions about him. There are a couple of scenes that recall that supremely satisfying moment in “Annie Hall” when Woody Allen pulled Marshall McLuhan out from behind a theater sign to refute the man who had been pontificating about McLuhan’s theories. The theme of a character whose true value and genius is not seen by those around him is a recurring theme in stories with a lot of appeal for teens, who often feel that way themselves.

There are also scenes of real loyalty and connection, not just between Jamal and Forrester, but between Jamal and his brother (rapper Busta Rhymes in his best performance yet) and between Jamal and Claire.

The movie’s primary weakness is its climax confrontation, which is artifically constructed and unsatisfyingly unrealistic. Forrester’s explanation of his decision to withdraw from the world and his decision to change is weakly handled. Jamal may be just a little too perfect. And a brief in-joke appearance by a big star is distracting.

Parents should know that the movie has brief strong language and sexual references and situations (Jamal’s neighbors have loud sex on the other side of his bedroom wall). Forrester says that women will have sex with anyone who has written a book. Jamal and Claire take their relationship very slowly and show a lot of respect and concern for each other. Forrester drinks a good bit, and talks about a character who died in a drunk driving accident.

The movie raises a lot of great issues for family discussion. Why do Jamal and Forrester hide their talents? How does the fact that both have lost family members provide an important connection for them? Why is it important for us to find people who can teach us? Why was Crawford so angry, and do you agree with Forrester’s comment about “bitterly disappointed teachers?” What prejudices are revealed by the characters? Do you agree that “people are most afraid of what they don’t understand?” Family members should also talk about Forrester’s advice that the first draft is written with the heart, the second with the head, and might want to try his technique for getting started on writing. They might also like to read some of the books Jamal talks about. And (note the way I started that sentence with “and” per Jamal’s comments on the subject) every teen should read “Catcher in the Rye” by famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger, the inspiration for the Forrester character.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Powder,” about another teen with extraordinary powers and “Field of Dreams,” another movie with a character based on Salinger. Mature teens will also like “Good Will Hunting” (very strong language and sexual situations) by the same director, also about a brilliant young man from a poor community.