Seven Girlfriends

Seven girlfriends may seem like too many for one movie, but one kicks the bucket and another dumps our hero, Jesse (Tim Daly), before the opening credits of Paul Lazarus's breezy debut comedy have rolled. Spurred by the latter's parting observation that he doesn't know how to have a relationship, Jesse decides to check in on girlfriends one through five as he drives cross-country to number six's funeral, dropping in on them unexpectedly to ask what he did wrong. Big surprise: he's an insensitive, selfish jerk who gives lousy presents and whose sole redeeming virtue is a knack for producing culinary masterpieces from such unlikely sources as a car engine and a dishwasher. This non-vinyl version of High Fidelity plays like Six Girlfriends and a Funeral, and it benefits from the large, talented female cast -- among them Olivia d'Abo, Elizabeth Peña, and Mimi Rogers. It's an appealing fantasy for those who have loved and lost, and Lazarus's glib screenplay is spiced with piquant charm and subversive wit despite a tendency to tepid formula and new-agey platitudes. Screens Thursday, September 14 at 7:30 and 10:10 p.m. Director Paul Lazarus will appear at the 7:30 p.m. screening.

-- Peter Keough

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Film Festival Feature Films

| A Fight to the Finish: Stories of Polio | A Man is Mostly Water | A Trial in Prague | Blessed Art Thou | Charming Billy | Enemies of Laughter | Enlightenment Guaranteed | The Exorcist | Harry, He's Here to Help | Into the Arms of Strangers | Just Looking | Ratcatcher | Seven Girlfriends | Two Family House | The Yards | You Can Count On Me |

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