FAMILY FILMGOER By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Friday, March 9, 2001

Also Playing Okay for Kids 6 and Older "See Spot Run" (PG). David Arquette as dopey mailman baby-sitting for boy and stray dog, not knowing pooch is an FBI canine targeted by hit men. Overplotted, unfunny farce has enough slapstick to keep younger grade-schoolers happy. Gangsters shoot at dog, people; child in jeopardy; gross jokes about dog poop, pooch biting thug's privates. Not for preschoolers. PG-13s and an Art Film "In the Mood for Love" (PG). Exquisitely shot, emotionally delicate, dreamlike story about neighbors in 1960s Hong Kong who discover their spouses are having an affair. Muted references to prostitution, adultery; smoking, drinking. For teen cinephiles. Chinese, with subtitles. "Monkeybone." In uneven, bawdy, hilariously inventive live-action and animated farce, cartoonist (Brendan Fraser) languishes near death in purgatory of his own nightmares, his comatose body taken over by libidinous monkey alter ego he's created. Rampant sexual innuendo; doctors harvest organs from fleeing corpse; toilet humor; mild profanity. Not for preteens, some younger teens. R's and an R-ish Art Film "When Brendan Met Trudy" (not rated but R-ish). Offbeat – sometimes irritatingly so – Irish comedy about boring teacher who loves films, choir singing, then finds his life turned around by free-spirited lass who burgles houses. Explicit sexual situations; semi-nudity; strong profanity; toilet humor; nihilistic sensibility; drinking, smoking. Older high-schoolers. "The Mexican." Brad Pitt as doofus sent to Mexico on mob errand, Julia Roberts as his furious girlfriend, James Gandolfini as hit man hired to take her hostage to ensure job gets done, in fun caper comedy/shaggy-dog story that's too long, violent but awfully droll. Bloody gunplay; strong profanity; suicide theme; sexual innuendo; toilet humor; smoking, drinking. High-schoolers. "Faithless." Lovely, painful, intimate, visually spare film about tragic effects of an adulterous affair on four people, including a child, with script by Ingmar Bergman, directed by Liv Ullmann. Adultery, suicide themes; intense sexual situations; graphic language; nudity; muted violence. 16 and older. Swedish with subtitles. "3000 Miles to Graceland." Kevin Costner as killer ex-con, Kurt Russell as nice guy ex-con rob Vegas casino, fight over loot while Russell romances Courteney Cox as single mom in long, lumbering, exercise in pointless mayhem. Loud, bloody gun battles; beatings; car chases; crudely explicit sexual situations; child in danger. Oldest high-schoolers, if any. "Pollock." Ed Harris triumphs as star-director in portrait of abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock in 1940s-'50s New York. Theme of genius tortured by mental illness, alcoholism; abusive behavior; profanity; briefly explicit sexual situation; heavy drinking, smoking. Older high-schoolers into art, character profiles.

"Company Man" (PG-13, 81 minutes)
Good actors try too hard and a clever idea goes kerplunk in this laughless low-budget comedy that asks, How'd a big country like the U.S. get into a caper as dumb as the Bay of Pigs invasion? Even teens who love political history won't warm up to this tiresome Cold War farce. The PG-13 reflects bawdy but non-explicit sexual innuendo, jokes about LSD, crude language and slapstick violence. Douglas McGrath, who directed and co-wrote, stars as a wimpy high school teacher, circa 1960, who fibs that he works undercover for the CIA to impress his nagging wife (Sigourney Weaver). She blabs; a visiting Russian dancer defects to him, then the CIA hires him for real, sending him to Cuba where he plots to sabotage Fidel Castro. Cameos by Woody Allen, John Turturro and others don't help.

"15 Minutes" (R, 120 minutes)
Two vicious criminals from Eastern Europe cut a swath through New York City with police and reporters hot on their trail in this violent, urgently satiric take on our gun-, media- and celebrity-obsessed society. Only high-schoolers 17 and older (and not all of them) are ready for "15 Minutes," which features stabbings, shootings and beatings – brutally intense, though visually stylized – and scary scenes of people trapped by fire, plus strong sexual innuendo, partial nudity, profanity, smoking and drinking. Robert De Niro plays a publicity-hungry homicide cop and Edward Burns a modest arson investigator. They go after the two psychopaths, who videotape all their crimes and watch TV talk shows, from which they learn that they're just victims, too. The movie implicates our entire culture. It has a valid point, but that doesn't make it a pleasant experience.

"The Caveman's Valentine" (R, 105 minutes)
Samuel L. Jackson is terrific as a homeless paranoid schizophrenic obsessed with solving a murder in this unusual, visually striking film, which works marvelously as a character study, less well as a thriller. Appropriate only for mature older high-schoolers, it contains implied sadomasochism, gun and fist violence, a sexual situation, sexual innuendo, partial nudity, strong language, smoking, drinking and an intense portrayal of mental delusions. A classical music genius whose mental illness forced him to escape family and career, Romulus Ledbetter discovers a body and suspects foul play. He tells his police-officer daughter, then does his own sleuthing. Scenes when he stifles his "brain typhoons" in order to think are transcendent.

"Blow Dry" (R, 91 minutes)
A laid-back, bittersweet comedy, "Blow Dry" has a fine cast and a few good moments but eventually falls flat from a lack of style. Still, high-schoolers might like this quirky hairdressing comedy streaked with darker emotional tones. The rating covers sexual innuendo, a mild sexual situation, nudity, discussion of terminal illness, strong language and smoking. Set in a town in Yorkshire, England, "Blow Dry" focuses on a barber (Alan Rickman) and his ex-wife (Natasha Richardson), who has a beauty salon. He was once a champion stylist but quit after she ran off to live with his model (Rachel Griffiths). He and their son, she and her lover rarely speak, until a national hairdressing contest comes to town. She wants them all to enter the competition as a team again.