`CONTACT' RISES ABOVE RECENT SCIENCE-FICTION OFFERINGS : THE FACTS.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

``Contact'' is probably the smartest science-fiction movie they're going to make this decade. It doesn't come close to ``2001'' - which ``Contact'' bears some similarities to, as as it does to ``Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' - but don't expect a better one before 2001.

At its best, ``Contact'' is as thoughtful and humanistic as the Carl Sagan novel it's based on. In a movie culture that's reduced sci-fi to pulpy thrill rides and attitude comedies, that is, at the very least, a hopeful signal from the heavens.

Beloved astronomer and science popularizer Sagan worked closely with director Robert Zemeckis and writers James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg before his death last year (Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, has co-producer and story contributor credits). The film is nonetheless very different from the novel.

Some Hollywood corn's been slipped in; the romance between Jodie Foster's astronomer and Matthew McConaughey's new-age pop guru is developed in a particularly hokey manner. But the main points of Sagan's novel, indeed of much of his life's work, still come through, often vibrantly so.

The scientific use of skepticism, and how it balances out with the driving faith a dedicated intellect needs, is compellingly portrayed. There are reams of well-delivered techno-speak, some fun back-and-forth between spiritual and secular viewpoints and amusing observations on how money, power and gender impact the realm of Big Science.

Foster's Ellie Arroway is a singularly focused, pure science type who's been obsessed with contacting extraterrestrials since childhood. Orphaned while still a young girl, Ellie has also developed a talent for dodging close personal relationships (her dismissive treatment of McConaughey's Palmer Joss after they first make love should get a ``Go girl!'' cheer from earthwomen everywhere).

While sweeping the skies at the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico, Ellie hears something. It's coming from the star Vega's system in response to one of our earliest TV signals - which turns out to be the last thing humankind would want to make a first impression with.

Evidently forgiving, Vega took some light years to get back to us. But word of the contact gets out quick. Soon, the VLA is crawling with media, government types and a space-age Woodstock's worth of geeks, freaks and protesters.

Suddenly, Ellie is at the center of the world's, and especially Washington's, attention. Employing something like the same technique he used to insert Forrest Gump in the White House, Zemeckis even drafts President Clinton into commenting on her amazing discovery.

When another, stranger emission from Vega is translated into a blueprint for a single-seat interstellar transport device, Ellie joins a short list of candidates to take the ride. For the once-in-a-lifetime privilege, she must compete with her professional nemesis David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), as well as pass muster with a recommendation board that includes her loved-and-left Joss, now a big-time presidential adviser, and a conservative Christian politico, coyly cast with Rob Lowe.

This is just the setup. Although there is more talking head work in this movie than in any $100 million production in memory, an enormous amount of activity actually unfolds. The whole world is mobilized, trillions are spent, and multiple agendas get played out.

It's all very Zemeckis, in other words, even if at its core, ``Contact'' is the most down-to-earth of the director's special-effects fantasies (``Gump,'' ``Who Framed Roger Rabbit,'' the ``Back to the Future'' trilogy). It's still all about one individual's impact on a huge thing - history, reality, the universe - and a sterling study of what it takes for an individual to maneuver steadily through crazy worlds.

Still, some may find ``Contact'' too talky. To counter that, Zemeckis has cast smartly: James Woods, John Hurt and Angela Bassett all do precision work. But most of all, he's given Foster the best role of her career.

Foster is so much better at depicting Ellie's passion, conflicts, fears and courage than she is playing ``Nell''-like naifs, it makes you wish she'd stick to movies about strong, educated women. With no Anthony Hopkins around to steal the show, Foster gets to showcase her brains and technique here like never before.

But it's her great emotional command that really gets a workout. Foster goes through every imaginable feeling and then some, but never permits Ellie to release her firm rational grip. When Ellie finally has to confront her most personal views on faith in an uncomfortably public circumstance, Foster achieves that rarest of cinematic moments when honest spirituality is captured by the camera.

And for the first time in years that have felt more like millennia, a Hollywood movie really makes contact.

The film: ``Contact'' (PG; language).

The stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Angela Bassett.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Written by James V. Hart, Michael Goldenberg, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, based on Sagan's novel. Produced by Zemeckis and Steve Starkey. Released by Warner Bros.

Running time: Two hours, 30 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three stars