Sophie's Choice

"Sophie's Choice" wants desperately to be a Great Hollywood Epic. Instead, it has to settle for merely being worthwhile.

Superficially, the film does feature the hallmarks of an Oscar-winning classic. It's an actor-driven drama featuring a love triangle with two principals who harbor Dark Secrets. Even better, one of those characters is a Holocaust survivor.

But only one of the film's assets can fairly be described as timeless: Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performance as a Polish immigrant who has only recently survived Auschwitz. Streep has to carry this film and she absolutely nails it. The acrobatics required for her emotionally ravaged character would be difficult enough to negotiate without her also affecting a Polish accent. Her phrasing and mannerisms as a non-native English speaker are impeccable.

Streep's performance alone makes the film worth seeing. She is assisted by Kevin Kline, who turns in a strong effort as her unstable lover. Alan Paluka's austere directing also pays dividends at times, as when the camera lingers over the suffering masses of Auschwitz. The other point to recommend the film is its plot, which features enough twists to keep us interested most of the way.

But these strengths are undermined throughout "Sophie's Choice." Chief among the film's weaknesses is the performance of Peter MacNicol as a young writer who befriends the two lovers. With his overly earnest acting, MacNicol seems like he's wandered in from the set of a bad '80s B-movie. He threatens to derail every scene in which he is a focal point; the film works best when he is merely an observer of Streep and Kline.

Another major issue is the score, which is a total clunker. From the opening strains of strings in the first scene--more awkward than stirring--we know we will have to suffer through some maudlin music at moments which should be genuinely moving.

Pakula's patient approach also outlasts that of the audience at times. He seems determined to draw every last scene out, and throws in a brief romantic dalliance involving MacNicol which is utterly pointless.

The plot also has a couple of leaps that strain credulity. They are symptomatic of the film as a whole: when "Sophie's Choice" should be soaring, we are reminded that it's only a movie.

Adventureland

"Adventureland" is a coming-of-age dramedy about a recent college graduate. No one will applaud it for originality. But neither will they accuse it of insincerity.

At a time when it seems like 40 percent of Hollywood releases are blood and or boob vehicles for adolescent men, it's nice to see a film explore the male perspective in a more intelligent vein.

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, "Adventureland" stars Jesse Eisenberg as James, a socially awkward pseudo-intellectual. He plans to take the requisite trip to Europe before beginning graduate school. But when his parents' finances take a hit, his plans get downgraded to working at a theme park in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1987.

Here he meets a motley band of amusingly written stereotypes, including the crazy park manager, the hot girl and the brooding depressive. But his most important new acquaintance is Em (Kristen Stewart). As soon as Em and James meet, we know their fate. But Mottola creates enough reasonable obstacles in their courtship that the plot doesn't feel labored.

The chief barrier is Em's affair with the park's maintenance guy, Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds). Inside the park Connell gives off an impenetrable aura of coolness. Outside, he takes women to his mother's basement to cheat on his wife.

Em's attraction to Connell is a symptom of her low self-esteem, which is explained by her dysfunctional family situation. Her mother has died of cancer and her father has remarried a wicked stepmother. James' own parents are similarly unsupportive and irresponsible: his father hides a bottle of liquor in the car, which James uses with unfortunate consequences.

These characters amount to yet another lampooning of the Baby Boomers for irresponsibility. There's some truth and some unfairness in the accusation, but at least it's used here to help explain the protagonists' background and motivations.

Mottola's previous work was as director of "Superbad," but he has replaced most of that film's crude humor here with quality filmmaking. He strikes just the right balance between comedy and drama, and moves the film along at a varied pace. Some scenes fly by, while other plotlines are drawn out. This pacing matches the speed of life; time can seem to drag on forever, and then suddenly events happen in a flurry.

Mottola also aptly evokes the '80s with a soundtrack featuring the Replacements and the Cure. The cinematography always feels appropriate for the scene, varying from close-ups to hand held shots.

"Adventureland" is hardly perfect. The final quarter of the movie veers a bit wildly, as Mottola seeks to bring James down before his inevitable redemption. But with well-made, charming films as rare these days as slasher flicks are common, we should celebrate "Adventureland" in spite of its flaws.