Losing Chase

Long live the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. This time the well-connected actor perpetuates the legacy with a directorial debut that may leave some cast members wishing they were a couple of degrees removed. Helen Mirren is Chase, a passionate intellectual whose nervous breakdown has left her a sniping Anne Sexton-esque wretch. Her husband, played with puppy-dog fatuousness by Beau Bridges, brings on a mother's helper to ease her stress. Enter Kyra Sedgwick, all ringlets, repression, and rubber lips. Soon Chase is looking at her aide with more than housework in mind.

Aided by his talented female leads, Bacon unspools a well-meaning effort. But his touch has all the subtlety of the Vineyard nor'easter that drives Chase to the brink. Predictable from the get-go, the treacly saga wrestles with weighty themes but fails to uncover any real truths about depression, never mind take any real chances with its love story. At the Coolidge Corner.

-- Alicia Potter