The Movies

rules of engagement

Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson / William Friedkin (The French Connection) / Paramount Pictures

PLOT A Marine colonel faces a court-martial when a mission to save an ambassador results in civilian deaths.

MESSAGE There's a big gray area between combat and murder.

CAUTION Rated R for bad language and war violence.

$10.1 million 4 weeks in release $89.9 million to date

PLOT Title heroine fights evil utility company because it is poisoning the water supply.

MESSAGE With hard work, a passion for justice-and good looks-people from humble backgrounds can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

CAUTION Rated R for bad language.

$8.9 million 2 weeks in release $25 million to date

PLOT Two con men stumble across the lost city of gold and impersonate the local pagan gods to grab some treasure.

MESSAGE Trying to pull off a big scam risks paying a big price.

CAUTION Rated PG for brief cartoon nudity and bad language.

$8 million 1 week in release $8 million to date

PLOT Romance about a woman who gets a heart transplant and later falls in love with the widower of the organ donor.

MESSAGE Life goes on after someone dies-and death doesn't always leave an unhappy ending.

CAUTION Rated PG for bad language.

$6.4 million 2 weeks in release $20.2 million to date

PLOT Curiously timed suspense thriller about an elite Ivy League secret society that loosely resembles Yale's real-life Skull and Bones, whose most famous members are the George Bushes.

MESSAGE Powerful people can do horrible things behind closed doors.

CAUTION Rated PG for bad language.

Here's a 21st-century quandary: a priest and a rabbi in love with the same woman. That's the two-second summary of Keeping the Faith (Touchstone; rated PG-13 for language and sexual situations). You see, Rabbi Jacob (Ben Stiller) and Father Brian (Edward Norton) have been buddies since childhood. They even attend one another's services, which are more like standup acts. Enter their old junior-high pal Anna (Jenna Elfman, one of Hollywood's Scientologists), who re-enters their lives and tests their friendship. Jacob wants to get married so he can move up the ranks at the synagogue, but Anna isn't Jewish. Brian isn't really a contender for Anna's affections; he's just neurotic because he's never been attracted to a woman before. This isn't as bad as it could have been. It has some genuinely funny moments, but quickly gets boring when it tries to be serious. Although tame compared to some of the rank blasphemy that has hit the screen in the last year (from Dogma to Superstar), Keeping the Faith still ranks low.