Review: So-so 'Kate & Leopold'

By Paul Tatara
CNN Reviewer

(CNN) -- It's not quite accurate to say that the new Meg Ryan time travel romance, "Kate & Leopold," isn't as bad as it could have been. But you also may not find yourself squealing with delight every time little Meg bats her eyelashes, squinches her nose, or bites her bottom lip. You still have to bring your own nervous system into the theater, and, let's face it, the act is wearing mighty thin by now. Cute or not, Ryan is starting to seem like a stubborn homecoming queen who refuses to surrender her tiara.

In case you couldn't guess, she plays Kate, a sorta sweet, sorta lonely, sorta kooky New York career woman who will soon find her life turned upside-down by the least-unexpected unexpected romance of all time. Things get off to a running start, when Kate's ex-boyfriend, Stuart (Live Schreiber), finds a portal to the 19th century and accidentally returns to modern-day Manhattan in the company of Leopold (Hugh Jackman), the dashing Duke of Albany. Stuart manages this little trick because, as it says in the film's production notes, he's a "renegade scientist." As we all know, a regular scientist would face a stiff fine if he ever attempted such a thing.

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Creative housing specialist Neil Simon will be pleased to hear that Kate still lives in the same building as Stuart, and they regularly visit each other via the fire escape. But Stuart isn't as adept at locomotion when it comes to elevators. He falls down an open shaft shortly after shutting Leopold in his apartment, and winds up in the hospital. This leaves poor, outmoded Leopold to fend for himself in a city well beyond his understanding, and you know what that means: bring on the wacky hijinks!

First up is the old warhorse where a time traveler is flummoxed by modern plumbing. Later, as a special bonus, Leopold also refuses to pick up the poop left behind by Stuart's dog, even after a cop threatens to give him a ticket (Leopold, that is; even in New York, dogs are seldom written up). Writer-director James Mangold, much to his credit, seems to march out the overt shtick solely because he's expected to. Then he moves on to vaguely greener pastures.

That includes Ryan slowly falling in love with Jackman, a process that, surprisingly, isn't completely nauseating. When she's not acting flustered for the five zillionth time, Ryan is still an astute comic actress. And there's no denying Jackman is a dashing lead. The characters warm up to each other in measured doses, and the subplots accomplish more than another round of fish-out-of-water gags.

Mangold's participation in this is unexpected, if all you're bearing in mind is his previous output. His last movie was the pretend-gritty "Girl Interrupted" and before that he helmed the star-studded testosterone-spewer, "Cop Land." You sense that he's not completely comfortable with something as hollow as "Kate & Leopold," but even false grit can hinder a thriving directorial career. An occasional suck-up to the box office doesn't hurt.

Suck-up or not, this is mostly harmless stuff. Even a scene where Leopold explains the romantic significance of various flowers is semi-agreeable. You do cringe at certain points, because, if you have any self-respect, cringing is part of this genre. But the banter is sometimes worth a chuckle. The moment when Leopold picks up Kate as he rides by on a white steed is over quickly, and it sure beats watching the nightly news these days. At the very least, everyone is clean, there's not a gun in sight, and no one hides in a cave.

Don't worry about the kids; "Kate & Leopold" is an absolutely innocuous romance, with maybe a smattering of bad language. CRITIC'S GUARANTEE: "Kate & Leopold" is the only movie you will ever see in which a character gets slapped in the face for wanting to invent the elevator.

The film is rated PG and has a running time of 1 hour, 58 minutes.