June 27, 1997

MOVIES

THE WEEK

OWEN GLEIBERMAN; LISA SCHWARZBAUM;

NEW RELEASES

FOR ROSEANNA (Fine Line, PG-13) You can just about hear the accountants in the back room bellowing, “Gimme some of that il Postino feeling!” So director Paul Weiland and veteran screenwriter Saul Turteltaub dredge it up by the vatful with this synthetic, stereotype-drenched drama about an Italian tavern owner (Jean Reno from The Professional) intent on keeping everyone in town alive in order to save one of the church’s few remaining grave sites for his dying but lusty (!) wife (Mercedes Ruehl, in full mamma mia mode). Meanwhile, the signora schemes to interest her husband in marrying her plum tomato of a younger sister (Enchanted April’s Polly Walker) after she kicks. The “charm” of the tale is about as authentic as the Village People-who, unfortunately, don’t supply the soundtrack, since that, too, is a knockoff of the il Postino anthem. C- L.S.