Lucky Numbers

When Nora Ephron, director of such icky romantic comedies as You've Got Mail, met Adam Resnick, the writer-director of the infamous Cabin Boy, the result was this black comedy that doesn't quite hit the jackpot. A more beef than buff John Travolta stars as Harrisburg, PA, TV weatherman Russ Richards. He's a local celebrity with his own booth at the local Denny's. When his failing snowmobile dealership is faced with foreclosure, he becomes embroiled in an increasingly desperate scheme to save it, moving from a botched insurance scam to rigging the lottery with the station's amoral lottery girl Crystal (Lisa Kudrow). Ephron is so eager to get down and dirty that the creepy characters (Michael Moore as an onanistic oaf) and grisly violence bludgeon the comedy. Emerging unscathed are Tim Roth as an unflappable strip joint owner, Michael Rappaport as the aptly-named Dale the Thug, Ed O'Neill as the station manager who wants in on the action, and Travolta, who tries to keep his head while events snowball around him. Ultimately, however, a game cast and an uneven script do not make a winning combination. An optional purchase. (K. Lee Benson)