KICKED IN THE HEAD (40)

Directed by: Matthew Harrison

Starring: Kevin Corrigan, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Rapaport, James Woods

The Pitch: A young slacker drifts around, writes bad poetry, obsesses over a woman and searches for the Truth ... But, y'know, for laughs.

Theo Sez: Meanwhile, back in film-school, our underachieving pothead heroes were still trying to complete the course ... A cheerful, basically inept stew of drugs, guns, silly montages and PLANET OF THE APES references from people old enough to know better, absolutely dire when it tries to talk relationships (mostly because Corrigan's little-boy-looking-for-a-mommy persona is even whinier than Jon Favreau's in SWINGERS), but surprisingly fun when it talks political correctness, the existence of guardian angels or such Heavy questions as whether a human being can be reincarnated as an extraterrestrial (a valid point, if you think about it). It's basically about energy, and the various competing energies of a diverse cast - Woods' hyperactive hustler, Rapaport's bluff, non-malicious jock's belligerence, Fiorentino's feline mixture of carnal and regal, Burt Young's vivid vulgarity ; the attempts at comment (such details as a scuzzy, money-grubbing character known as "Uncle Sam") are best ignored.