Run, Fat Boy, Run ***

A sweet send-up of sports movies, "Run, Fat Boy, Run" manages to touch all the bases without making us feel like anything was stolen. Unlike, say, "Superhero Movie," also out this week, which takes scenes from the movies it's spoofing and just adds sight gags and fart jokes, "Fat Boy" gives us its own original story which is nevertheless firmly rooted in the genre.

Our story is set in London, where unlikely hero Dennis (Simon Pegg), a women's clothing store security guard, desperately wants to win back the affections of Libby (Thandie Newton, who you may remember from "Crash"), the woman he left at the altar, pregnant, five years earlier. His only contact with her is through visits with his son, which Libby allows, even encourages, which shows you how much nicer a person she is than Dennis. Enter rich American businessman Whit (Hank Azaria), who is quite taken with Libby - she looks like Thandie Newton, remember - and her son, and who wants to be part of their lives.

Whit, who seems to good to be true, is also a marathoner. Dennis decides to compete with him on his own turf by entering the upcoming charity marathon. Never mind that Dennis looks like he might be a wee bit pregnant himself, and has the discipline of a plate of spaghetti. Dennis' best friend gets involved (a standout Dylan Moran). Also his landlord (a funny Harish Patel). Soon we're caught up in the quest for Dennis to actually finish something.

The story works itself out with predictable precision, with colorful performances, clever dialog, and good pacing. The latter is no doubt due to David Schwimmer, of "Friends" fame, in his directorial debut. It's a delightful and often laugh out loud movie, and enjoyable on its own terms, just when you thought that Will Ferrell had sucked the genre dry.

Rated PG-13. 100 Minutes. David Schwimmer - Director, Michael Ian Black - Writer (screenplay) (story), Simon Pegg - Writer (screenplay), Sarah Curtis - Producer, Robert Jones - Producer, Richard Greatrex - Cinematographer, Alex Wurman - Composer, Sophie Becher - Production Designer, Michael Parker - Editor. Distributed in the U.S. by Picturehouse Entertainment.

Principal actors: Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran, Matthew Fenton, and Harish Patel.

Superhero Movie *

I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it was Leslie Nielsen that made me want to see "Superhero Movie." I was thinking fondly of the "Naked Gun" series, I suppose. I was definitely not thinking of writer/director Craig Mazin's execrable "Scary Movie" series, in which Nielsen also appeared. This movie has minimal thought, juvenile humor, lots of fart humor, and a dependence on "Spider-Man" that is slavish, with a scene or two of "X-Men," "Fantastic Four,"and "Batman Begins" thrown in so as not to make it a one-movie rip-off. The best thing I can say about this film is that it is better than "Date Movie," which still holds its place as the worst movie of this millennium. Eight-year-olds will love it. If you want a take-off on a genre that is actually funny and affecting, go see "Run, Fat Boy, Run."

Rated PG-13. 85 Minutes. Craig Mazin- Director / Writer / Producer, Robert K. Weiss - Producer, David Zucker - Producer, Thomas E. Ackerman - Cinematographer, James L. Venable - Composer, Bob Ziembicki - Production Designer, Craig Herring - Editor. Distributed by Dimension Films.

Principal actors: Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Pamela Anderson, Tracy Morgan, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, and Leslie Nielsen.

Stop-Loss ***

It's been nine years since director Kimberly Peirce's smashing debut, "Boys Don't Cry." Her second effort, "Stop-Loss," tackles an equally difficult subject, the effect of the Iraq war on soldiers, their families, and loved ones. Last year audiences stayed away from Iraq-themed pictures: "Rendition" ($9.7M total box office), "In the Valley of Elah" ($6.8M), even star vehicle "Lions for Lambs" ($15M), not to mention "Redacted" and "Grace is Gone," which each earned less than $75,000. This film, focused on the home front with three young, attractive, and talented leads - Ryan Phillipe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Channing Tatum - could be the first one that people respond to.

The action is not all back home in Texas, however. The movie opens with Brandon King (Phillipe) leading his men into some heavy action in Tikrit. What happened that day weighs heavily on King as he comes home to a hero's welcome in his home town, along with buddies Steve Shriver (Tatum) and Tommy Burgess (Gordon-Levitt), who served with him.

After fulfilling their promises, they are all looking forward to getting out and the transition to civilian life. But for King, it's not to be. He's been "stop-lossed." That means he must go back to Iraq because the army needs more soldiers than it can recruit, and the fine print in his contract allows it. This happened to 80,000 soldiers before the recent "surge" was initiated last year. We don't yet know how many since.

King cannot accept another tour after, as he sees it, fulfilling his end of the bargain. He goes AWOL and embarks on a journey to talk to the Senator who promised an open door when he met him at his homecoming parade. Meanwhile, his buddies are not adapting well to civilian life and the women who waited for them. While sometimes slipping into melodrama, King's trip, made with the help of Shriver's girl friend (a tough/tender Abbie Cornish), gives us a look at the stop-loss resisters' underground, a visit to a wounded comrade, and an awkward interview with a fallen soldier's parents.

In the end, there seem to be no good options for King. By basing her story on a stop-loss soldier, Peirce gives us a view of the war and its effects that is more accessible than if she had chosen an anti-war main character. Ryan Phillipe is convincing in his role, as is Tatum. Gordon-Levitt, in an underwritten role, seems to have little to do. Direction and composition are fine, and the opening action sequence is first rate. We'll see what the public makes of it.

Rated R. 113 minutes. Directed by Kimberly Peirce. Written by Mark Richard and Kimberly Peirce. Produced by Kimberly Peirce, Gregory Goodman, Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin. Cinematography by Chris Menges. Music composed by John Powell. Production Design by David Wasco. Edited by Claire Simpson. Distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Principal actors: Ryan Phillipe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Channing Tatum, Rob Brown, Abbie Cornish.

Under the Same Moon ***

"Under the Same Moon" gives us a view of the lives of illegal Mexican immigrants through the eyes of a child. This device invites us to put aside adult stereotypes and preconceptions, and see the daily challenges, hardships, and kindnesses in the lives of the undocumented in a new light. There is the low-paying job, the impossibility of a driver's license, the lack of recourse if an employer cheats or mistreats, the constant worry of apprehension by the "Migra" (Immigration). And when a child embarks on an impossible journey to be with his mother in the U.S., there's an emotional appeal that is impossible to resist. Despite such transparent manipulation, the movie has enough scenes and characters that ring true, with such winning performances, that it achieves a modest success.

Ten year old Carlitos (Adrian Alonso, delightful and unselfconscious) has been living with his grandmother in Mexico while his undocumented mother Rosario (a luminous Kate del Castillo) works in Los Angeles cleaning houses and sewing. For four years, she has been trying to save enough money to pay an immigration lawyer to get Carlitos into the U.S. legally. Maybe this lawyer won't rip her off like the last one. Little Carlos, meanwhile, is growing more and more impatient for a reunion. Their daily routines are nicely intercut at the beginning of the movie, and at first it's not clear that they are not in the same house, in fact not in the same country.

Carlos spends some time each day helping a family friend Doña Carmen (Carmen Salinas) whose sideline business is immigrant smuggling. This is the first of several stereotype-busting characters in "Under the Same Moon." Rather than some rough gangster, Doña Carmen, "La Coyota" seems much more like a savvy, hard-headed businesswoman. She turns down an offer by a Latino brother and sister from the U.S. to transport a child or a baby because one, they can't even speak Spanish, and two, they're so green they could never pull it off. When his grandmother dies, Carlitos finds the two ("Ugly Betty" America Ferrera and "Quincerañera" prize-winner Jesse Garcia in cameos), and hires them to smuggle him across with some of the money he's saved from what his mother has sent back. Thus begins the road trip of Little Carlos, who has a week to get to Los Angeles before Sunday's call from his mother from a pay phone in Los Angeles to a pay phone in his town.

The trip has mishaps and missteps along the way, as Carlos brushes against a strung-out druggie, a flesh trafficker, an immigrant boarding house, day labor, and "Migra" (Immigration), and finally ends up under the reluctant protection of Enrique (a charming/irascible Eugenio Derbez). Meanwhile, as the film counts down the days until Sunday, Rosario is facing her own struggles with survival, and her determination to do it all alone is tested by the attentions of a handsome security guard who already has his green card (a suave Gabriel Porras). The two stories hurtle along toward Sunday, and Rosario makes a fateful decision. By Sunday, we have a remarkable portrait of life on both sides of the border, and a child has led us.

Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. Directed by Patricia Riggen. Written by Ligiah Villalobos. Produced by Patricia Riggen and Gerardo Barrera. Cinematography by Checco Varese. Music composed by Carlo Siliotto. Production Design by Gloria Carrasco and Carmen Giménez Cacho. Edited by Aleshka Ferrero. Distributed in the U.S. by Fox Searchlight Pictures. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Principal actors: Kate Del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, Eugenio Derbez, Jesse Garcia, America Ferrera, Maya Zapata, and Carmen Salinas.

Snow Angels ***

"Snow Angels" follows the stories of three couples: one young couple just coming together, one couple separated unhappily, and another in the process of breaking up in a small New England town. The young couple includes teenager Arthur (a pitch perfect Michael Angarano). His former baby sitter Annie (a searing Kate Beckinsale), with whom he works at a restaurant, is the unhappy and confused half of the separated couple, but not nearly as confused and unhappy as her husband (a tightly wound Sam Rockwell). And his parents are the ones breaking up (played by a wise Jeanetta Arnette and a suitably intellectualized Griffin Dunne).

These everyday people - waitresses, a carpet salesman, a male nurse, a college instructor - play out everyday stories. There's the separated husband living with his parents, the new smart girl at the high school, the first infidelity of the separated wife. The wrenching tragedy that can strike so unexpectedly. And at the center of it all is Annie, who is trying to make some sense of her life while trying to deal with the obsessive husband she kicked out. As in the superb "In the Bedroom" (2001), there is a toxic mix of marital separation and jealousy. But most of all we have a truly breakout performance from Beckinsale, totally riveting, complex, and unafraid. Here she proves that she can be much, much more than a sexy vampire. The performances are uniformly convincing - a sure sign of good direction - but it is Kate Beckinsale's Annie who carries this picture.

Rated R. 106 minutes. Screenplay and direction by David Gordon Green, from the novel by Stewart O'Nan. Produced by Dan Lindau R. Paul Miller, Lisa Muskat, Cami Taylor. Cinemtography by Tim Orr. Music composed by Jeff McIlwain and David Wingo. Production design by Richard A. Wright. Edited by George Bunce.

Principal actors: Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris, and Olivia Thirlby.

The Counterfeiters *****

"The Counterfeiters," this year's Academy Award winner for best foreign language film is now in limited release and in up to 72 theaters nationwide today, according to Box Office Mojo. If you're lucky enough to be in a town where it's showing, by all means go. Austria's Oscar entrant tells the true story of the largest counterfeiting scheme in history, organized by the Nazis using the skills of largely Jewish concentration camp inmates in a World War II effort to undermine the economies of Britain and the United States.

The film opens in a nightclub in pre-war Berlin, where Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), is spending freely and making no effort to hide his Jewish name. He agrees to help a couple in need of a convincing passport, and mentions that it's time for him to move his operation, because he's been in one place too long. The next morning he and the lady are surprised by the police. The arresting officer Fredrich Hertzog (Devid Striesow) addresses him as "King of the Counterfeiters." Sorowitsch, surviving prison by drawing flattering portraits of guards, is transferred to a concentration camp five years later, where the same Hertzog is now in charge. Hertzog is assembling a printing operation, and has drafted talent from Germany's prisons and concentration camps, especially Auschwitz.

Director Stefan Ruzowitsky also wrote the screenplay, based on the book "The Devil's Workshop" by one of the counterfeiters, Adolf Burger (played in the film by August Diehl). Ruzowitsky's version simplifies the story somewhat and gives it a dramatic and locational unity. Hues are washed out in the camp. Although shot in color, the effect and the remembrance of the movie is black and white. Cinematographer Benedict Neuenfels stays close to the characters, often with a hand-held camera, which gives the feeling of a documentary. Performances, especially from Markovics, are on a high level.

As the operation progresses, the workers gain some privileges, since Hertzog believes it will improve their production. Isolated from the other inmates, they have enough to eat, mattresses, showers. They have their own world, while outside they hear prisoners beaten, force-marched, shot. As they begin to have some success with the British bank notes, the idealist Burger has doubts. Is it moral to help the Nazis? Or should they, as Sorowitsch the criminal believes, save themselves for as long as they can and not think about the consequences? A dangerous dynamic evolves, as Burger sabotages the work because of his ideals, and Sorowitsch protects him because no one should betray a fellow inmate. The questions and conflicts that arise add depth and additional levels to this drama, and we have much, much more than a simple history from the Nazi era.

Rated R. 98 minutes. Direction and screenplay by Stefan Ruzowitsky, from the book by Adolf Burger. Produced by Josef Aichholzer, Nina Bohlmann, Babette Schröder. Cinematography by Benedict Neuenfels. Music composed by Marius Ruhland. Production design by Isidor Wimmer. Edited by Britta Nahler. In German with English subtitles.

Principal actors: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner.

Penelope **

"Penelope" is a sweet romantic fantasy about an heiress born under a family curse that can only be lifted by the love of "one of her own kind." This PG fable should be popular among young girls and the young at heart, but its sprawling vagueness will keep box office low. Penelope (Christina Ricci) narrates the history with a wry voice-over as we see the origin of the curse and why it has not struck until now. Once wound up, the movie gets down to playing out what will happen to this smart, nice, pretty (except for the pig's nose) girl.

After faking young Penelope's death and educating her in her own suite hidden behind a two-way mirror, parents Jessica (Catherine O'Hara) and Franklin (Richard E. Grant) start a campaign to lift the curse. Under tight security, and sworn to secrecy, waves of suitors, all "blue blood" since they would be "of her own kind," are brought in to meet Penelope and see if they are up to the challenge. One of these is Max (James McEvoy), a ringer recruited by an investigative reporter played by Peter Dinklage who shows life and expression in his role despite an eye patch that limits his facial movement. O'Hara and Grant bring a controlled hysteria to their roles, as one after another of the suitors flee at the sight of their daughter. McEvoy, working here after making but before the release of his breakout role in "The Last King of Scotland" offers a brooding and mysterious version of his double-agent role, who comes to life when he's around Penelope, but who remains undeveloped as this heroine realizes she does not need a Prince Charming to set her free.

Penelope escapes, determined to see the world for herself, with the lower half of her face perpetually covered by a scarf. The city she explores is a combination London, New York, and Atlantic City, but the speech is American. She meets messenger-on-a-Vespa Annie (Reese Witherspoon, who also co-produced) who takes her under her wing. Ricci is delightful as she learns about life and takes her own future in hand, including her own 15 minutes in the spotlight, but Witherspoon is a distraction. There's a nice twist as fame and marriage are in her grasp, and everything works out, although not exactly the way you might have expected.

Rated PG. 102 minutes. Directed by Mark Palansky. Written by Leslie Caveny. Produced by Dylan Russell, Jennifer Simpson, Scott Steindorff, Reese Witherspoon. Cinmatography by Michel Amathieu. Music composed by Joby Talbot. Production Design by Amanda McArthur. Edited by Jon Greggory.

Principal actors: Christina Ricci, James McEvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, Simon Woods.