by MATTHEW HAYS

Promises, promises. It seems the folks behind MTV's wildly successful Real World series have branched out onto the big screen, with this young-drunken-hos-go-on-vacation movie, The Real Cancun. The suggestion is that the stuff that's just too dang naughty for TV will ooze out all over the cinema, where, as Jackass: The Movie indicated, things are allowed to ooze more freely.

But there's nothing remotely scandalous about this reality-based movie. In fact, the producers seem to have gone out of their way to find the dullest young people imaginable. There are a series of interchangable chicks, a few fellas - one well-built fellow can best be described as Brad Pitt with an extra chromosome - and they are all out to get laid. They leer at each other, circle each other, occasionally neck and boink. As for the film being racy, raunchy or titillating, there's utterly nothing groundbreaking here. There are the occasional bare breasts (so what?) and not even one fleeting glimpse of a dick. (That's right, in a medium where male full-frontal nudity is hardly a showstopper any more.)

There is one loose story arc, involving the Geek from Texas who finds out he can drink to excess and actually win a best-bod contest. That's as exciting as it gets. Those who find any of The Real Cancun even remotely titillating must be seriously sexually repressed. Go rent some porn and get over it.

In better documentary news for filmgoers, Christopher Guest has returned with another of his sublime faux non-fiction films, A Mighty Wind. After taking on fading heavy metal bands (in Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap), community theatre types (Waiting for Guffman) and dog enthusiasts (Best in Show), Guest and his brilliant ensemble take on washed up '60s stars of the folk scene.

The results are as ridiculously silly as ever, with bandmates recalling their glory days of releasing somewhat deficient records (the listener had to drill their own holes in the album) and their bumpy declines in the folk scene. What's most surprising here is the way in which Guest et al manage to make the shift from cruel satire of overly-earnest folk types to poignant character development. Their characterizations are so carefully drawn and dimensional, the film's climactic sequence almost becomes genuinely touching.

All of these Guest-related features, notably, are about people preparing for some kind of performance. It lends itself perfectly to a traditional storyline, but it also serves as a skewering of all of the nuttiest things surrounding show biz itself. With A Mighty Wind, Guest has managed to take his entourage beyond a silly, forgettable comedy and into the realm of truly great comic filmmaking. Unlike The Real Cancun, A Mighty Wind represents an intelligent use of the foibles and audience expectations surrounding reality-based filmmaking.

The Real Cancun and A Mighty Wind open Friday, May 9

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