New on DVD - 9/23/08

LEATHERHEADS (**)

Instead of being breezy and light on its feet, "Leatherheads" is laborious and overlong and suffers from severe personality syndrome. It switches back and forth from screwball comedy to straight comedy to drama to soap opera and never seems to make up its mind as to what it is or what it is trying to do. Clooney then makes the mistake of spending too much time with the aimless subplot of Rutherford's exaggerated tale of heroism that derails the movie completely - going nowhere and taking a painfully long time to get there.

MOTHER OF TEARS (½)

Mother of Tears is stuck with a lame plot that makes little sense and gives little reason to care. It's chaotic, unfocused, and jaw-droppingly nonsensical, with no respect for continuity or story integrity. In fact it's so laughably bad that I felt like I was watching an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film is so inept and so lacking in basic filmmaking quality that it's almost unbelievable that it was directed by someone who is so respected for being a master in his field.

RUN FATBOY RUN (***)

It's nothing groundbreaking or out of the ordinary, but it is a competently made, even heartwarming little comedy with a nice British twist about an out-of-shape loser who decides to run a marathon to show up his ex-fiancee's new boyfriend and prove to her that he can actually finish something he sets out to do to win her back.

SEX AND THE CITY (***)

"Sex and the City" is an estrogen oasis in a season filled with testosterone-driven action flicks - a capable and hugely likable romantic comedy of good friends, cosmopolitans and fabulous Manolo Blahniks sure to please both the uninitiated and the hard-core fans. Either way, "Sex and the City" is a treat.