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Show 'Silver City' leans on the message button Bettany, Dunst aim to Jane Sumner CD score in airy 'Wimbledon' novice Haskell should. THE TwotimeQscar-win-ne- r Wexler, 81, han- DALLAS MORNING NEWS cinedled its matography. "Silver City" opens with Richard "Dickie" Wager (Chris Cooper), the grammatically challenged, born-agai-n and "userriendly" son of a rich senator, running for governor of Colorado. Sayles is too alarmed about corporate exploitation of the country to be and the countryside coy about his satiric target. But when Dickie reels in a cyanide-lace- d corpse while shooting an environmental TV ad at a lake, his campaign manager Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss) turned prihires vate eye Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston) to investigate. Is it an accident? Or grim prank? Off goes sleuth Danny to interview three suspects at odds with the Pilager dan: a rabid right-win- g talk show host (Miguel Ferrer), a fallen EPA crusader (Ralph Waite) and the candidate's estranged g sister (Daryl Hannah).' ' Ensemble players Billy Zane, Michael Murphy, Kris Kristofferson, Mary Kay Place, Thora Birch and Tim Roth pass ays-electric f through with fleeting Sal cameos, but Tijuana-borMexican and debuting Lopez sun-wash- out when big, John Sayles, the of independent film, gets mad at the Bush administration. He's not going to take it not without doing anymore what he knows how to do better, cheaper and quicker than most directors in the biz. And that's make a movie that questions where America is head- Look ' ed. The result is "Silver City," a political lampoon-cum-murde- r mystery with a crack crew of actors except for Danny Huston, who weak and mild in the lead seems miscast. It's Sayles "Fahrenheit 911" and a bit of a narrative disappointment. Still, even mediocre Sayles is better than much of the puerile dross served up by the studios. "Silver Oty" starts out with great promise but substitutes polemics for the filmmaker's trademark good talk, a sledgehammer for his thoughtful subtlety. It's sometimes 'provocative and very funny but too often heavy-handeand familiar. Shot for $5 million in Den- - . ver and Leadville on Super-1transferred to digital and blown up to 35mm, "Silver City" looks great, but then it ; d 6, Lf dope-smokin- alw- too-brie- n Chris Cooper, Richard Dreyfuss, Kris Kristofferson, Daryl Cast Hannah Running time: 2 firs., 4 min. Rating: R for language Location: Opens Friday in select cities actress Alma Delfina stand out in small, key roles. Actors on Sayles' shoots do without trailers and usually are paid the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage, but that doesn't keep top talent from r signing on with the filmmaker of "The Brother from Another Planet" and "Matewan." They do it out of eagerness to work with the who has never hidden his humanity or social conscience. He doesn't just entertain. He gives you something to chew on, maybe haunt your dreams. If "Silver City" isn't in the same class as his "Lone Star," it's still worth a look and there's a chilling zinger of a final scene that almost redeems its shortcomings. blue-colla- r, S1 V- ft.-- ISJ35Ll 1 muuu isu imm wise philosopher once said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Or maybe that was AH f (ED Wimbledon A -MacGraw. In "Wimbledon," Kirsten Dunst says, "Love means nothzero." Not quite ing in tennis as memorable a line, but that's what poses for philosophy in romantic this comedy set in the tennis world. Dunst The and Paul Bettany are co-st- sufficiently likable together, and the banter often has the deft, swift pacing of a championship match though it usually involves Bettany and some- one else, Uke Nikolaj Coster-Waldawho plays his practice u, partner, or James McAvoy, who plays his brother. Previously a supporting figure in films including "A Knight's Tale," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," Bettany proves himself an engaging leading man and upstages the topilled Dunst in the process. Bettany plays fading tennis star Peter Colt, who was ranked 11th in the world nearly a decade ago but now has slipped to No. 119. He's on the verge of retiring and taking a job as a tennis instructor at a posh English dub, but first he must compete as a wild card in his final fortnight. In a painfully cute scene, he runs into Lizzie Bradbury (Duna bad-giAmerican at st) her first Wimbledon when he walks in on her shower after a mix-u- at the hotel front desk. Unbelievably, not only is Lizzie not embarrassed about being caught in the nude, she actually finds herself flirting with him. Director Richard Loncraine's movie only truly gets going once match play begins. Like a female John McEnroe (though McEnroe himself shows up as an announcer alongside Chris Evert), Lizzie shrilly challenges every bad call And Peter finds himself performing better than anyone figured himself included thanks to the inspiration he derives from this unexpected relationship. Even Peter's agent (Jon Favreau, drawing laughs despite playing a cliche) wants p - vfv Ml Rcvicv . ASSOCIATED PRESS rl j5Y MIUHNO THE Director John Sayles 111 .A Christy Lemire Silver City iwjiv.:-;:xTh- ct Director; Richard Lonaaine Cast Paul Bettany, Kirsten Dunst, Sam Neill, Jon Favreau hr.,40min. Rurmlngurrwsl 3 for language, Rating: sexuality and partial nudity Location: Opens Friday in PG-1- , theaters everywhere . him back. But lizzie's pushy stage father (Sam NeiH) wants her to stay away from Peter and stay focused on the tournament. Predictably, the script from . Adam Brooks and husband-andVwif- e team Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin inserts the dad as an obstacle to the budding romance (hell later have a reluctant change of heart, natch), along with cocky American Jake Hammond (Austin Nichols), who competes with Peter on and off the court for Lizzie's attention. "Wimbledon" comes from the producers of Tour Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill," "Bridget Jones's Diary" and the upcoming sequel "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," so it has atried-and-truwry sense of British humor. It was shot during Wimbledon last year, which gives the fOm a sense of realism and immediacy. It also helps that the long, lean Bettany looks like a tennis pro, even though he'd never really played the game before. And Bettany plays his character with an easy balance of charm and newfound swagger. Some of the matches are staged spectacularly (with the help of CGI), especially the men's final, which features you guessed ft our hero, Peter, versus the insufferable Jake. We could have done without repeated use of the ball-caeffect, though, in which the camera seems to swoop down like a searing serve and smack the grass with a thwack. We also could have done d without the epilogue, since the movie's ending is appropriately happy. It's the cinematic equivalent of(smashi!ig when a y the ball for a graceful passing shot would have been just fine. feel-goo- put-awa- lcrald.com r. f - I 1 l 3 isn ) , |