One Night at McCool's

There's a gold mine of comedy to be found in the impetuous and foolhardy things men will do when dumbstruck by a beautiful girl like the bombshell femme fatale played by Liv Tyler in this semi-zany flick co-starring Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser as the men she has wrapped around her little finger. Dillon lets her move in and ends up becoming an accessory to murder. Goodman is a detective tracking the killer, but he's only interested in making her appear innocent so she'll love him. Reiser is a chauvinist lawyer who becomes her S&M play thing. Although ripe with wicked laughs, in the hands of rookie director Harald Zwart the end result is very uneven and only makes you wonder what a comedy king like Woody Allen (or, going in another direction entirely, the sick and twisted Farrelly brothers) might have done with the same script. Optional. (R. Blackwelder)