FLYPAPER (R)

A millions dollars provides the catalyst for three separate storylines in director Klaus Hoch’s look at one really hot day in Los Angeles. The cast is game, but the director tries too hard to make the film unique, providing for some unintentional laughs. Most of the face are recognizable, including Robert Loggia as a man coming to the aid of a street junkie, who he suspects is his illegitimate daughter. Sadie Frost is powerful as Natalie, the junkie being pursued by a second-rate hood named Bobby Ray (a menacing Craig Sheffer). Hoch does a good job of bringing all the plot threads together, but the attempt is so reminiscent of other films that it loses much of its impact. Except for a handful of signature moments (Lucy Liu and James Wilder making out in an empty swimming pool of rattlesnakes) “Flypaper” fails to stick. (Trimark)

HANGING UP (PG-13)

Even though they are as different as night and day, there is a special bond that exists between a father and his daughter. As someone with a younger sister who has witnessed this first hand, I admit I was a little jealous of that bond. Sisters Delia and Nora Ephron shared that special connection with their father, and their experiences (based on Delia’s book) have been brought to the screen in “Hanging Up,” an engaging dramedy (drama-comedy for the uninformed) directed by Diane Keaton. Click on title for complete review. (Columbia-TriStar)

MEETING DADDY (R)

Lloyd Bridges made his last appearance in this amicable comedy about a neurotic writer whose love is tested when he accompanies his girlfriend home for the weekend. Bridges plays the girl’s eccentric father, just one of a series of offbeat characters in Peter Gould’s comedy-drama. Josh Charles, late of “Sports Night,” is good as Peter Silverblatt, whose affections for Melanie Branson (the lovely Alexandra Wentworth) are put under a microscope when he encounters her Georgia family. Gould keeps everything in balance, perfectly blending the laughs and pathos. Bridges shines in a tailor-made role. (Paramount)

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (R)

In movies, as in life, there’s nothing worse than overstaying your welcome. Think back on how you felt when your relatives came to visit and wouldn’t leave. That is how I felt about “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” an engaging thriller that is also a little long in the tooth. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Italy’s sun-drenched golden beaches, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is just as gorgeous, and unfortunately, just as leisure. Writer-director Anthony Minghella takes his time unraveling author Patricia Highsmith’s novel, and fails to understand that sometimes less is more. Click on title for complete review. (Paramount)

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