MOVIE REVIEWS | In local theaters

"AN AMERICAN HAUNTING" (C+): The spirits make way too much noise in this supernatural tale whose overbearing clamor is redeemed to a large extent by engaging performances and fine 19th-century period detail. 1 hour, 22 mins.; PG-13 (intense terror sequences and thematic material).
"THE BENCHWARMERS" (D): Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Lovitz play middle-aged men who attempt to compensate for their unathletic childhoods by forming a three-man baseball team. With Jon Heder. Directed by Dennis Dugan ("National Security"). 1 hour, 20 mins.; PG-13 (crude and suggestive humor, and language).
"THE BREAK-UP" (C): Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston play characters that are so different, it's hard to believe they ever got together. So when they break up, which happens pretty early in this self-professed "anti-romantic comedy," it doesn't seem tragic. And their subsequent attempts to drive one another from the condo play like an anemic version of the much meaner "War of the Roses." 1 hour, 45 mins.; PG-13 (sexual content, some nudity and language).
"CARS" (B-): "Cars" rolls along like an animated, automotive version of "Doc Hollywood," the 1991 Michael J. Fox gem, from its basic plot points to its feel-good conclusion. What sets it apart is that it's yet another stunningly beautiful Pixar production. 1 hour, 44 mins.; G.
"THE DA VINCI CODE" (C-): Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou run around Europe, delving into dark churches and darker secrets while being chased by French cops and an albino killer monk in this unfortunately plodding adaptation of the mega-selling Dan Brown theological thriller. It may be controversial and blasphemous, but worse still, it's deathly dull. 2 hrs., 29 mins.; PG-13 (violence, profanity, religious mumbo-jumbo, adult themes).
"THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT" (C-): This sequel in name and speed only is an expensive cinematic equivalent of boys playing rough with their Hot Wheels cars -- while gorgeous, underdressed girls look on. The film is set in an infantile world where teens drive garish cars with reckless impunity while adults barely exist save for the occasional moment where the filmmakers want to show their young anti-heroes rebelling against authority. Lucas Black leads the cast as a speed freak sent to live with his dad in Japan. 1 hour, 44 mins.; PG-13 (reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content).
"GARFIELD: A TAIL OR TWO KITTIES" (C-): Bill Murray is back in this part-animated, part-live action sequel to 2004's "Garfield," again providing the voice of America's best-known overfed cat. Despite his droll delivery, Murray can't wring many laughs out of the mostly lame script from returning writers Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. Garfield follows his owner, Jon (Breckin Meyer), to England to try to stop him from proposing to his girlfriend -- a veterinarian (Jennifer Love Hewitt) with an important speaking engagement. While he's there, he's mistaken for a cat who looks just like him (voiced by Tim Curry) who just happens to be a prince. 1 hour, 30 mins.; PG (some off-color elements).
"THE LAKE HOUSE" (C-): Kleenex won't be necessary for watching this wannabe weepy, but some sort of pain reliever is essential -- because trying to determine whether this time-travel romance functions logically will seriously make your head hurt. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star as the successive inhabitants of a cozy, cool-looking lake house hidden along a quiet section of coastline outside Chicago. Reeves (as architect Alex Wyler) moves in after Bullock (as doctor Kate Forster) moves out. They drop perfunctory letters in the mailbox for each other about forwarding mail, some items left in the attic, etc. Soon they realize, though, that Alex is writing from 2004 and Kate is writing from 2006 -- exactly two years apart from each other, to the day. 1 hour, 38 mins.; PG (some language and a disturbing image).
"NACHO LIBRE" (B-): He could be the long-lost cousin south of the border that Napoleon Dynamite never knew he had. As a monastery cook who raises money by secretly competing as a Mexican wrestler, Jack Black's Nacho Libre is just as committed to his aspirations as the dorky hero of the 2004 cult favorite "Napoleon Dynamite," and just as delusional about his talent. Both films come from husband and wife Jared and Jerusha Hess, who've teamed up this time with writer-producer Mike White. They've created a movie that's far more cohesive than its predecessor, and not just a series of funny ideas with nowhere to go. "Nacho Libre" has many solid, silly laughs, but it runs out of flips and tricks. 1 hour, 31 mins.; PG (some rough action, and crude humor including dialogue).
"OVER THE HEDGE" (C): This cheeky family comedy, from the people behind "Antz" and "Chicken Run," wags its finger at all of us humans for contributing to the destruction of the very environment the cuddly creatures call home. 1 hour, 23 minutes; PG (some rude humor and mild comic action).
"ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN" (C): The movie is on par with the 2002 original: brisk, pleasant and loaded with slapstick that should keep young children giggling, though repetitive enough that parents may feel they're sitting through the first "Ice Age" all over again. 90 minutes; PG (mild innuendo).
"JUST MY LUCK" (C): In between performances by British pop band McFly, Lindsay Lohan squeezes in opportunities to show off her gifts for timing and physical comedy in what is essentially a remake of "Freaky Friday," the remake of which made her a star in 2003. 1 hour, 40 mins.; PG-13 (some brief sexual references).
"MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III" (B): The action moves so swiftly and skillfully, you don't realize you're watching a two-hour-plus film. But time and time again, Tom Cruise goes back to being Tom Cruise in a series of seemingly intentional allusions to his past movies, which distracts you from the fact that he's supposed to be a spy. 2 hours, 7 mins.; PG-13 (intense scenes of frenetic violence and menace, disturbing images and some sexuality).
"POSEIDON" (C): The remake of the 1972 cult disaster classic "The Poseidon Adventure" is all splash and no substance. The characters are rendered so shrilly and superficially that they make sympathy nearly impossible. 1 hour, 40 mins.; PG-13 (intense prolonged sequences of disaster and peril).
"PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" (B+): This is Robert Altman at his most Altmanesque: meandering tracking shots, a big, bizarre ensemble and a story that seems to drift on the winds of the hot air blown from the characters' overlapping dialogue. Altman applies all of the above with his masterfully ironic and curmudgeonly eye to a whimsy-filled fantasy about the last night of Garrison Keillor's venerable radio program. 1 hour, 45 mins.; PG-13 (risque humor).
"SILENT HILL" (D): Radha Mitchell plays a desperate mother who goes to a spooky, isolated town searching for a cure for her only child's illness. With Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Alice Krige and Jodelle Ferland. Written by Roger Avary. Directed by Christophe Gans ("Brotherhood of the Wolf"). 2 hours, 7 mins.; R.
"UNITED 93" (A): Paul Greengrass ("Bloody Sunday") wrote and directed this account of the plane that crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. R (language, intense scenes of violence).
"X-MEN: THE LAST STAND" (C): The nuance and complexity of character that made the first two "X-Men" movies more compelling than the typically mindless summer blockbuster are gone in this third and supposedly final installment in the comic-inspired franchise. Instead, you get flying, flaming cars and a totally naked Rebecca Romijn. 1 hour, 44 mins.; PG-13 (intense sequences of action violence, some sexual content and language).
Combined dispatches