by JOANNE LATIMER AND JULIET WATERS

Cry_Wolf

Just when you thought there couldn't be another twist on the teen slasher flick, first-time director Jeff Wadlow has tried something new: putting someone in the lead who can seriously act, as British heartthrob Julian Morris lends the class and intensity of a boyish Clive Owen to this psychological thriller set in an exclusive American prep school.

The plot involves bored rich kids who form a liars club and try to outwit and outprank each other. When a local girl gets killed, they entertain themselves spinning a yarn around school about a serial killer who is preying on prep schools like their own. But of course it all goes bad. Eventually the kids can't tell if they're being stalked by the killer or each other. And neither can the audience, thanks to the consistently clever plot.

There's no campy parody, no hand-held cameras, not much gore, just a well-acted, well-written, solid little teen thriller that's an obvious tribute to the golden era of the genre, circa Halloween. Sure, there are problems. Jon Bon Jovi as the randy journalism teacher isn't going to scare anyone with that haircut. Girls wearing thigh-high socks and heels with those short little school uniforms take away from the faux indie edge (this is, after all, produced by the same company responsible for The Bourne Identity and The O.C.). But these are pretty small quibbles in an otherwise entertaining addition to the genre. (JW)

Just Like Heaven

This from the director of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday? Mark Waters, seemingly de-clawed since his last two projects, directs Just Like Heaven as if he has never tip-toed through the PG-13 regulation book. Almost quaint, this romantic comedy will offend no one, for sure. But it has no snarky edge, either, and that's a shame because Reese Witherspoon is on board.

Just Like Heaven is about a workaholic young doctor (Witherspoon) who gets in a car crash and finds herself... un-alive. Then, a sad dude named David (Mark Ruffalo) rents her apartment (it's hard to forget David's name because Witherspoon's character says it before every sentence). David soon discovers that the previous tenant hasn't really moved out. The paranormal bickering between Witherspoon and Ruffalo fills the plot, leaving us grateful for the secondary characters.

Enter Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, with freshly bleached teeth and hippie hair. He plays a slacker medium helping David deal with his unwanted houseguest. Heder has the only unpredictable lines, and wakes us up with his weirdo manner.

Waters' film starts to move at the end, as Witherspoon and Ruffalo race toward the happy ending. Ruffalo is a pleasing enough leading man, with a trustworthy quality that evades most actor types. Witherspoon is perfect as the prim doctor, defensive about her lack of social life. The actors share just enough tender moments - torn from the pages of Sleeping Beauty - and just enough funny moments to keep audiences lighthearted, if not delighted. (JL)

Minor Mishaps

Just the title of this Danish experiment in domestic drama screams minor art house film, and, sadly, Annette K. Olesen's debut doesn't defy expectations. This story about a Danish family facing life after the death of their saintly matriarch has some great moments, but it's uneven.

Apparently Olesen, a Danish National Film school graduate, was invited by the excellent Danish actor Jesper Christensen to make a film using Mike Leigh's method, where directors work with actors to improvise much of the script. What we get, however, is like an IKEA version of the method. It's simple: fit the person with no psychological boundaries into the person with rigid boundaries, and you have a multi-functional situation that will guarantee all kinds of quirky uncomfortable moments in your low-budget film.

Still, there are some great actors and some powerful moments when they do hit their stride. A couple of scenes between Christensen and Karen-Lise Mynster, who plays his unfaithful wife, are mesmerizing. Jorgen Kiil is also excellent as the family patriarch who's way too charming for his own good. In fact, there are so many fine actors hitting their prime in Minor Mishaps that with more focus this could have been a Denys Arcand film. But anything that ends with an actor shaking his head, wiping away tears of laughter and saying "what a family" obviously isn't of the same calibre. What this film really reveals in the end is that Christensen probably needs to focus now on making his own damn film. (JW)

Cry_Wolf, Just Like Heaven and Minor Mishaps
open Friday, Sept. 16

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