Even an outstanding cast, some good special effects, and an intriguing idea from a first-rate writer can’t save this sci-fi thriller from a poor script and unimaginative direction. The studio’s lack of confidence and its troubled history is evident in its long-delayed release and obvious cuts to take it from an R to a PG-13.

Gary Sinise, who also co-produced, plays Spencer Olham, a brilliant scientist who has created a devastating weapon to be used in a war against genetically superior aliens. After a romantic weekend in the country with his beautiful doctor wife, Maya (Madeleine Stowe), and on the night he is to greet the head of the global government (Lindsay Crouse).

But an inspector named Hathaway (Vincent D’Onofrio) tells Olham that the plans have changed. Hathaway has intercepted an alien message showing that Olham has been killed and replaced by an alien cyborg construction that so perfectly replicates Olham’s memories and thoughts that even he does not know that he is no longer alive and himself.

If this sounds vaguely like “Blade Runner,” that is because both are based on stories by pioneering visionary sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. Like “Blade Runner,” this story envisions a world in which identity is so blurred that even we do not know who we are.

Unfortunately, though it tries to impersonate a much better movie, its ideas are lost among pedestrian chase scenes, and even a twist at the end cannot make it compelling.

Parents should know that the movie has peril and intense violence, including injury and death for key characters, including parents of young children. We see injured people, including battle victims and a young girl. Characters use strong language. A character is drugged, which makes him hallucinate. There is a very mild sexual situation involving a loving married couple and a brief non-explicit shot of a nursing mother.

Early in the movie, Olham quotes Einstein’s famous comment that “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” Olham is referring to the human capacity to create weapons of mass destruction and mentions J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped create the bomb that ended the war and demolished the two Japanese cities and tens of thousands of civilians. Families who see this movie might want to learn more about Oppenheimer and his trial for treason and discuss some of the conflicts scientists face.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the vastly superior Blade Runner – The Director’s Cut and may also enjoy other dystopic visions of the future from “Metropolis” to “Judge Dredd.”

Based on William Golding’s award-winning allegorical novel, this is the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a remote island. At first, they operate according to the structure they are used to (“Let’s make a lot of rules!” shouts one of the boys). Ralph, thoughtful and democratic, is selected as their leader. He plans for the long term, keeping a signal fire going. But when no one comes to rescue them, civilization slips further and further away. Jack and his “hunters” take over, becoming more and more savage. They paint themselves and make sacrifices to a mythical “beast,” first the heads of the animals they kill for food, and then one of the boys, killed in a wild ceremonial dance. They murder Ralph’s last follower, a chubby boy called “Piggy,” and they are chasing murderously after Ralph when they are found by rescuers. NOTE: This has some very scary moments, and the overall theme may be particular troubling for some kids.

Teenagers should read the book, by Nobel Prize-winner William Golding. This movie was remade in 1990, in color, with a contemporary setting, and the nationality of the boys changed to American. It has some power, but is not as good as the original.

If you like movies that make sense, don’t go anywhere near “Mulholland Drive.” If you like to come out of the theater saying, “Oh, I get it — he was just pretending to shoot the other guy!” this is not your movie. On the other hand, if “Twin Peaks” was just too upbeat and linear for you and you feel that the references in “Blue Velvet” were just too obvious and jejune (in fact, if you have ever used the word “jejune” in conversation), then this movie is for you.

It is not a story but a mosaic of stories, eras, moods, characters, and themes that intersect, overlap, and parallel like a dream. After a jitterbugging credit-sequence prelude, a luscious brunette (Laura Harring) tells a limo driver that he is not supposed to stop, but he does. Just as he is about to shoot her, a car filled with carousing teenagers slams into the limo. The brunette limps away and hides out in an apartment. She has lost her memory, and when asked her name, she picks the name “Rita” from a poster for Rita Hayworth’s movie, “Gilda.”

The mood of this part of the movie is classic, noir-ish 1940’s Hollywood. But then the person who finds Rita in the apartment is Betty (Naomi Watts), a fresh-faced ingenue just off the plane from Deepwater, Ontario, hoping to make it as an actress and a star in LA. She could be from the 1950’s or she could be from the present day. Betty tries to help Rita find out who she is. Meanwhile, a young director named Adam (Justin Theroux) is being pressured by some very dangerous-looking guys to give a particular actress the lead in his new movie. When he refuses, he has to meet with a creepy-looking cowboy, who tells him, “If you do good, you’ll see me one more time. If you do bad, you’ll see me two more times.” A nervous young man tells a compassionate friend that he had a nightmare about a scary person behind Winkie’s diner and they go looking for him. Tiny little people run around screaming. A purse contains a lot of cash and triangular blue key that opens a blue box found in another purse. A different blue key confirms that a murder for hire has been carried out. Two friends laugh over a silly story and then one shoots the other to get a book of phone numbers. He then accidentally shoots a fat lady and a vaccum cleaner. We see a lot of phones, from old-fashioned dial phones to 21st century cell phones and headsets. In a strange nightclub called Silencio, a woman sings Roy Orbison’s “Crying” in Spanish, except she is just mouthing the words to a recording. That might have some relation to the lip-synching audition Adam is holding for his new leading lady. So when Adam goes home unexpectedly and finds Billy Ray Cyrus in bed with his wife and responds by pouring pink latex paint all over her jewelry, and Betty turns into Diane, who used to be dead, and Betty’s aunt’s landlady, or is it Adam’s mother, is played by 1940’s musical star Ann Miller, all of that does not seem as out of place as it otherwise might.

Themes of dreams and reality, identity and anonymity, innocence and corruption, creativity and conformity, ripple and resonate throughout. References to other movies flicker through, including the blending of face and profile from Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” and the spit out the coffee scene from the Clark Gable and Ava Gardner movie “The Hucksters.” Betty tells Rita that she wants to help her solve the mystery because “It’ll be just like in the movies.”

Watts and Herring are outstanding. Betty practices her corny audition scene with Rita with a competent but conventional reading. Then, when she gets to the audition, she completely turns it around, leaving us as breathless as the characters in the scene. Watts later suddenly becomes an entirely different character who has an entirely different history with “Rita” and carries it off splendidly.

Lynch cast unknowns as the leads but populated the margins of the film with old-time stars and semi-stars. This embellishes his themes and adds to the dreamy, half-remembered quality of the story. In addition to Miller, the cast includes Lee Grant, Robert Forster, and the star of the 1960’s television show, “Medical Center,” Chad Everett.

Parents should know that the movie has very explicit nudity and sexual situations, including lesbian encounters and masturbation. It also has very strong language, violence, a dead body, and disturbing images.

Families who like this movie will also appreciate Lynch’s other movies, including Blue Velvet. For a terrifically entertaining and insightful analysis of this movies, see this article from Salon.

A child challenged to change the world comes up with a plan. He will do three important favors for people who need them. Then, instead of allowing them to pay it back, he will ask each of them to “pay it forward,” doing three favors for other people, and asking them to do the same. One character describes it as a “Mother Theresa conga line.” The principle is the same as multi-level-marketing, except that instead of soap or vitamins, it’s “generosity between strangers” that is being passed on exponentially.

Trevor has every reason to believe that life is harsh and painful. His parents are alcoholics and his father is either absent or abusive. He walks into school every day through a metal detector. Outside his classroom window is an endless expanse of desert. And his mother works two jobs in a city filled with despair, Las Vegas.

But Eugene encourages his students to “backflip” the world into something better. He does not expect much — maybe a clean-up of some graffiti. But he gets Trevor’s utopian idea.

If that theme appeals to you and you’d like to see three of the finest actors ever put on film, then you are the audience for this movie. If it sounds syrupy, go see something else. As for me, I’m in the first category, and my heart was happily warmed and my tears happily jerked.

Trevor, the 7th grader who comes up with the idea, is played by Haley Joel Osment, nominated for an Oscar last year for his performance in “The Sixth Sense.” Again, he shows us an extraordinary child, wise and sensitive beyond his years because of what he has had to face, but still completely believeable as an 11-year-old. Helen Hunt is heartbreaking as Arlene, a recovering alcoholic with a history of loss and abuse. And Kevin Spacey is breathtaking in a role that is a departure from the tough and wily guys he played in “The Usual Suspects,” “Wiseguy,” “Swimming with the Sharks,” and “L.A. Confidential.” He plays middle school teacher Eugene Simonet, scarred inside and out. One of Trevor’s favors is to bring Eugene and Arlene together, though it turns out that is is not just to make them happier.

Arlene and Eugene put all of their effort into making sure they do not get hurt again until they learn that it is risking hurt that makes us alive. Trevor’s idea does not always work, but when it does, people are transformed, not by the favors others do for them as much as by the favors they do for the next people in the chain. We get a glimpse of its impact as the story is interwoven with scenes four months into the future, as a reporter tries to track down the source of the mysterious acts of generosity.

Parents should know that there is some strong language, and characters abuse alcohol and drugs, including heroin and marijuana. There are references to the most severe domestic abuse. There are some fights, one resulting in mortal injury. A character attempts suicide. Another shoots his gun, though no one is injured. There is some strong language. A character dies tragically. There are sexual references, including references to having to be drunk to have sex and there is a discreet sexual situation. Scenes take place in a tawdry Las Vegas setting with skimpy clothing and strippers. A character’s burn scars may be upsetting. Pre-teens and teen-agers may be especially concerned by the violence that occurs at a school, despite the metal-detectors kids walk through as they enter.

Families should talk about the pay it forward idea. Would it work? What favors would family members like to do? Why is “routine” so important to Eugene? Why do we see him ironing his shirt twice in the movie? Why do we see Eugene sitting at a student’s desk when he talks to Trevor? Why does Trevor say that “it has to be hard?” Families should also talk about Trevor’s comment that the most important thing is watching people, paying attention to things they may not even know they need. Some families will also want to dicuss whether there is a religious allusion in the death of one character.

Families who enjoy this movie will also like “Magnificent Obsession” and “Field of Dreams.”

I’ll admit it with some embarrassment – this movie made me laugh. Yes, it is a very dumb comedy, but as dumb comedies go, it is one of the best because it stars four of the most able comic actors around. The situations are mildly funny (though, as I said, very dumb), but Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Jason Biggs, and Amanda Peet are so much fun to watch that I dare you not to smile.

Black, Zahn, and Biggs play three lifelong buddies who think that life can’t get much better than watching football with a beer bong or performing “Holly Holy” in their Neil Diamond tribute band, “Diamonds in the Rough.” Darren (Biggs) gets involved with a nightmare girlfriend (Peet as Judith -– not “Judy” -– a psychologist), who refers to Darren as her puppet and herself as his puppet master. Darren’s two pals decide the only way to save him is to kidnap Judith so that he can spend some time with the only girl he loved in high school. She happens to be a former trapeze artist about to become a nun.

If this sounds like an Adam Sandler movie, that might be because Sandler produced it, and because it was directed by Dennis Dugan, the director of “Big Daddy” and “Happy Gilmore.” It has the loose construction (and the juvenile attitude toward women) of a Sandler movie. Scenes were apparently created based on, “You know what might be funny?” instead of “You know what this character would do next?” That approach can be disarmingly unpretentious, but it can also be repetitive. How many dead fiancé stories do we really need? And there are a number of similarities to the rest of the Sandler oeuvre, including the contrast between the sweet, forgiving, blonde angel dream girl and the greedy and controlling girlfriend who nevertheless inspires love and loyalty from the hapless hero. There are other similarities, too — to the extent that this is a reworking of “The Wedding Singer,” the part of Billy Idol is played by…Neil Diamond.

In the end, though, it works, thanks to the inescapable pleasure of watching Zahn, Black, and Biggs. Peet is less well served by the script, which has her as some sort of pre-pubescent fantasy of a man-eating girlfriend, but she still glows – and looks great in some very revealing outfits.

Parents should know that this is a PG-13 movie that could easily have qualified for an R, and they should be very cautious about evaluating its appropriateness for teenagers. The coming attraction and commercial use computer graphics to make the movie seem less raunchy – Zahn’s nude yoga pose (with sexual overtones) is disguised with computer-added underpants and Peet’s revealing blouse is made much less revealing. The movie has very strong language and jokes about oral sex, masturbation, and homosexuality. A “butt cheek implant” operation is shown in brief but gross detail. Drinking too much beer is portrayed as a humorous bonding experience. The movie includes comic kidnapping and comic fatalities. A woman uses sex to control a man.

Familes who see this movie should talk about what happens to friends when they start to become involved in romance and why a man like Darren would put up with a woman who treats him with no respect or affection. What would be the right thing to do if you believe your friend is in a bad relationship?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “The Wedding Singer” and “Big Daddy.”