If George W. Bush is looking for hints on how to be a worthy President, he'd do well to see Thirteen Days before he moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In sometimes numbing detail (and we know Dubya can get impatient with that) and occasionally taking dramatic license, the film recounts how one of Bush's predecessors, John F. Kennedy, stood tall and maintained peace when the Soviet Union secretly installed nuclear missiles in Cuba.
In October 1962, 18 months after the Bay of Pigs (a botched U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba to oust Fidel Castro, which JFK had okayed), surveillance photos revealed that the USSR had installed missiles there—weapons powerful and close enough to wipe out virtually every major American city in five minutes. Days shows Kennedy (Greenwood) summoning his top advisers—his brother Robert (Culp), who was the U.S. Attorney General; special assistant Kenneth O'Donnell (Costner); and the Pentagon brass—for help. The military leaders advocate attacking Cuba, but Kennedy solicits alternate, less drastic strategies. "We can't let this get out of hand," he says, knowing only too well that an armed confrontation could lead to World War III. The crisis continues for 13 ever tenser days until—without giving anything away except to those who flunked Modern History—Kennedy persuades the Russians to blink.
On one level Days works as an engrossing, fact-based drama, though it inflates O'Donnell's role beyond the historical record. On another level it is about the making of a President. While Greenwood (Double Jeopardy) nails JFK's distinctive accent and posture, his portrayal goes beyond mere mimicry; he credibly shows Kennedy rising to the challenge of making the hard decisions that will affect the world's fate. As little bro Bobby, Culp is edgier but equally effective. Costner's O'Donnell functions essentially as pep talker to the Kennedys. He mostly stays modestly in the background where, despite a Boston accent so broad you keep waiting for him to say, "Paahk the caahr in Haahvahd Yaahd," he enhances a strong ensemble of supporting players. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: A vivid history lesson
Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Rebecca Pidgeon, Julia Stiles
Featured attract
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David Mamet isn't just biting the hand that feeds him—he's chomping it to bits. The director-writer, who penned such recent movies as Wag the Dog and The Edge, makes relentless fun of the filmmaking community in State and Main, an amusingly snide satire about what happens when a Hollywood film company sets out to shoot a flick in a small Vermont town.
Although the locals are quick to adapt to Hollywood ways—reading Variety, demanding a percentage of the gross—there's no way the New Englanders can rival the West Coast visitors for bad behavior. The movie's smarmy star (Baldwin, who's perfect) can't keep his mitts off underage women ("Every man needs a hobby," he reasons), and the malevolent producer (David Paymer) makes the shark from Jaws look like Flipper. State and Main is full of in-jokes, which even occasional viewers of Entertainment Tonight will get, and caustic comic work by a talented cast. (R)
Bottom Line: Screen savor
Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook, Claire Forlani
High tech doesn't equal high tension in this tedious thriller about skulduggery in the software industry. How scary can it be when the movie's biggest fright comes from sesame seeds? Antitrust's hero (Phillippe) is severely allergic to them and late in the story fears a possible adversary has purposely mixed them into a meal he's about to be served. By this point, the viewer is so desperate for this meandering movie to end that the temptation is to shout, "Open—and eat—sesame!"
Phillippe's character is a hotshot young programmer who is recruited from Stanford to work at N.U.R.V., a software behemoth in Portland, Ore., that is being investigated by the Justice Department and Congress on monopoly charges. He quickly discovers that creating killer apps isn't the only lethal business in which the corporation excels. At the center of the murderous doings is Gary Winston (Robbins), N.U.R.V.'s ambitious billionaire founder. This sleek geek, a megalomaniacal creep with Bill Gates's taste in jeans and eyewear, is the movie's most amusing creation. As slyly played by Robbins, he enlivens things whenever he's onscreen, which isn't nearly enough. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Hit the reset button
Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas
What can a grown-up movie critic well past the first blush of youth say about an earnest teen romance stuffed to bursting with such sentiments as prejudice is bad, be true to yourself and keep an open mind about listening to hip-hop? Only this: You'd have to be 15 to actually care whether two Chicago school classmates—Sara (Stiles), who's white and a would-be ballerina, and Derek (Thomas), who's black and wants to be a doctor—can overcome others' objections to their romance and Sara's clumsy attempts at swaying to hip-hop. Director Thomas Carter (Swing Kids) elicits decent work from a young cast, but there's nothing light-footed about Dance. (PG-13)
Bottom Line: Sit this one out
>Cast Away Tom Hanks gives yet another top performance as the lone survivor of a plane crash who winds up on an uninhabited Pacific island. (PG-13)
Chocolat Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche star in a whimsical romantic comedy where everyone goes nuts over chocolates. Excessively sweet. (PG-13)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Pure magic. Transports viewers to ancient China and a world filled with dazzling martial artistry and romance. (PG-13)
The Emperor's New Groove Animation with attitude. Funny, hip Disney toon about a spoiled ruler (voiced by David Spade) who turns into a llama. (G)
Finding Forrester Sean Connery has a swell time playing a reclusive novelist who befriends a smart high school student (Rob Brown) in The Bronx. (PG-13)
The House of Mirth Gillian Anderson (X-Files) triumphs as a single woman making her way in New York society in a splendid, heartbreaking film version of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel. (PG)
Miss Congeniality There's plenty to laugh at when FBI agent Sandra Bullock goes undercover at a beauty pageant. (PG-13)
What Women Want Mel Gibson is a skirt-chasing ad exec who can read women's minds, including Helen Hunt's. Never as funny as it tries to be. (PG-13)
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
