'She's So Lovely' 'Excess Baggage' PHOTO BY B OB McEWAN Rated R en celebrated director/actor John Cassavetes died, he left behind, among other things, a son, a script and a reputation for creating actor- driven stories. In She's So Lovely, these three things don't intersect as much as they collide, with less than spectacular results. This tale of compulsive love between gut- ter dwellers stars Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn and John Travolta — with a bit part played by Gena Rowlands, John Cas- savetes' widow — and allows each of them to act amok in a frenetic, disjointed emote- athon. Taking full advantage of the op- portunity are Penn and Penn, as Eddie and Maureen, two boozy, eye-crossed lovers liv- ing low on the hog near the outskirts of the lunatic fringe. The first segment of the film is devoted to showing how crazy in love they are, with an emphasis on crazy. As Eddie's incoherent ramblings and un- predictable outbursts become disconcert- ing, even to Maureen, she calls a mental hospital, hoping they can provide a quick fix for Eddie. Eddie has other ideas, and af- ter shooting a hospital driver, spends the better part of a decade "getting better." W1 Alicia Silverstone stars in and co-produced Excess Baggage. Rated PG-13 S ometimes previews do more harm than good. Such is the case with Ex- cess Baggage. What looks like just another wit- less teen-angst debacle is actually a charmingly sympathetic comedy. It won't win any Academy Awards, but it's sur- prisingly entertaining. Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) plays Em- ily Hope, a teen-age girl who wants noth- ing more than her wealthy father's love and attention. To gain it, she stages her own kidnapping, disguising her voice and calling in ransom demands before hand- cuffing and locking herself into the trunk of her BMW. Because this is the movies, profes- sional car thief Vincent happens onto the scene, stealing Emily's BMW with her trapped inside. The only person who cares enough to try and find her is "Un- cle" Ray, her father's right-hand man, a trained assassin who cares more for the girl than her own parent does. This improbable premise kicks off an equally improbable series of events, which incorporate enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. Co-produced by Silverstone, Excess Baggage is a well-crafted movie which could have been a superior one with just a little fine tuning. As Emily, Silverstone doesn't really pack a lot of punch — her character drives the movie almost by de- fault, carried by the script and not by the actress. Benicio Del Toro as Vincent, the ami- able car thief, is alternately appealing and aggravating, especially in the early going. Entire gestures and facial ex- pressions are stolen from the "James Liz Lent is a local freelance writer. Dean School of Emoting"; the only dif- ference is that Dean did mumbling and slouching well. When Del Toro finally breaks out of that and opens up in his scenes with Silverstone and Walken, he becomes a warmly funny actor, a true in- nocent caught in the midst of madness. Walken, of course, steals every scene he's in with his hilarious deadpan. And Harry Connick Jr. is mildly amusing as Vin- cent's car stealing cohort. Excess Baggage plods along at an ex- tremely relaxed pace. This is not an as- set to the comedic scenes, which don't always spark. If the writing and direct- ing had been sharper and the acting a bit more consistent, this truly could have been a teen-comedy success story. In- stead, it's just a pleasant flick with potential. Fast forward 10 years, and the story finds Maureen bathed, groomed and sad- dled in suburbia with new husband Joey (John Travolta) and three children, one of which is Eddie's. Everything seems to be fine, except that Eddie is due to be released imminently. For reasons unexplained, Joey is deter- mined to facilitate the demise of his fami- ly: He invites Eddie into the home for dinner and Maureen passively agrees, even after she's told Joey that she will always love Eddie more. Sure enough, Eddie soon arrives in a shabby rustbucket, determined not to leave without Maureen. Certainly, the scenario is ripe for dra- matic conflict, but the film is unable to cap- ture any real angst or genuine tension. That is not to say that there is no tension; only that it feels forced and hurried. Much time is devoted to building up the bond between Eddie and Maureen, as unnatural and un- believable as it may be, and too little is spent deconstructing their predicament to a satisfactory conclusion. They say that love is blind and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That being the case, She's So Lovely is best left for the truly myopic. Richard Haiprin is an attorney I film critic. .0 1/2 — Liz Lent Opening Today: Fire Down Below' The newest Steven Seagal extravaganza (his 10th) is an eco-thriller: Seagal (pictured, center) plays a federal Environmental Protection Agency agent who goes undercover to investigate a mining ty- coon's dumping of lethal chemicals in the Blue- grass hills of Kentucky, where the story is set. Also starring Kris Kirstofferson and Marg Helgenberger, bit appearances are made by Harry Dean Stanton, Levon Helm, Randy Travis and Travis 'Frith Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn in Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely.