`FAIR' ENOUGH PERIOD DRAMA LIVELY BUT IN VAIN.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

WITH AMERICAN Reese Witherspoon in the seminal role of Becky Sharp and Indian director Mira Nair at the helm, this should not be your typical English heritage rendition of ``Vanity Fair.''

Yet despite the actress's bumptious Hollywood energy and the filmmaker's colorful Bollywood flourishes, this adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 social satire plays only marginally livelier than your average ``Masterpiece Theatre'' epic. At the same time, it's stubbornly superficial compared the best Merchant-Ivory productions. Adapter Julian Fellowes does what he can with the sprawling source material, but his Oscar-winning screenplay for ``Gosford Park'' got more class-war critique and character drama across.

Part of the problem is that however groundbreaking a book ``Vanity'' was in the overall history of English literature, tales of ruthless social climbing through vicious British snobbery have been drags on the market for the century and a half since. Becky's unquenchable desire to rise from her origins as a starving artist's orphan may be universal and timeless, but subsequent authors have developed such archetypes with more psychological nuance and variety.

A swell British/Celtic cast - Bob Hoskins, Eileen Atkins, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers - enliven the various Dickensian nasties who alternately are bamboozled by clever Becky and block her charm force-march to the top. As the loving husband and best friend, respectively, who can sometimes bring out her better nature, James Purefoy and Romola Garai are suitably supportive.

But that's emblematic of the film's overall problem. Even in the few moments of vulnerability that they're allowed, the snooty characters remain mono-dimensionally unlikable. The decent folk are idealized. And if Witherspoon failed to radiate a sunny sense of fun no matter Becky's circumstances (she's even chirpy through the uncertain aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo), the already too-episodic story would have no urgency at all. Of course, that irrepressible effervescence makes her harder to feel for when Becky is supposed to be at her darkest depths. As for the Tennessean's accent, it seemed fine to me, but then I'm a Yank.

Witherspoon was pregnant through most of the shoot, by the way, which led to some imaginative camouflaging tricks. Nair, who is at her best in sumptuous, subcontinental settings (``Monsoon Wedding,'' ``Kama Sutra''), naturally emphasizes the burgeoning Indian influence on the Regency-era empire, more so than was in the novel. It helps distinguish ``Vanity Fair'' from the usual run of Britstory films.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

VANITY FAIR - Two and one half stars

(PG-13: sex, nudity, violence)

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, James Purefoy, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Romola Garai, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Director: Mira Nair.

Running time: 1 hr. 40 min.

Playing: Citywide.

In a nutshell: Somehow managing to be both superficial and stodgy, this adaptation of Thackeray's Regency England social satire has some moments, mostly due to Witherspoon's sass and Nair's touches of Indian showmanship.

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Photo:

Reese Witherspoon creates an obstacle for Bob Hoskins in a scene from ``Vanity Fair.''