Paperback Romance

If only more romance novelists had Sophie's idiosyncratic flair: she reads aloud while writing in the library. This allows those telltale phrasings -- "wild passion," "trapeze of lust," "his manhood" -- to win the heart of yuppie scum Eddie (a suave Anthony LaPaglia) as he seeks refuge from his Marla Maple-ish girlfriend in favor of something real (just ignore the minor plot-obstructing detail of his remorseless dealings with stolen jewelry). Sophie (an inconsistently directed Gia Carides) sternly rejects his offer for coffee, whereupon he sullenly shuffles off. We think: how cruel, how priggish. And then the one-two punch: Sophie gets up, straps on her leg brace, and hobbles off Dickensianly through the dark library.

This polio victim's sole objective is to hide her disability as she shyly pursues Eddie. When Sophie breaks the paralyzed leg in a harrowing freak accident (cripples can be funny too!), the resultant plaster cast disguises her condition long enough (about 80 of the 90 minutes) for her to gather the courage to tell Eddie the truth, and for us to realize that the only handicap in this film is that of the artistically challenged writer/director, Ben Lewin. You'll find deeper characterizations on the cover of a Harlequin. At the Kendall Square.

-- Robert Furlong