`MY NAME IS JOE' GOES A FEW STEPS TOO FAR.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

A fine, observant study of a recovering alcoholic goes somewhat astray in ``My Name Is Joe.'' But for the most part, it's an absorbing portrait of a good man who's cleaned up his act but is ultimately undone by the messy world he inhabits.

That restricted, hopeless locale is one of the poorer districts of Glasgow, Scotland, and it says something about the nature of the place that the film had to be subtitled for Americans to understand it. The working-class accents - make that nonworking-class accents - are emblematic of the locals' inescapable entrapment in their neighborhood's pathological culture.

Which is not the same thing as saying they're dumb, or even necessarily doomed. Indeed, protagonist Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan, in a Cannes Film Festival prize-winning performance) is as bright and humorous and self-aware as a bloke could be, especially now that he's flushed with the kind of optimistic drive many newly sober addicts exhibit.

And, of course, director Ken Loach, the English radical with the keen, sympathetic eye for society's castoffs, is not about to depict Joe or his associates in any way that disrespects their humanity. Though he's recently been indulging his penchant for muddled, lefty politics in films such as ``Carla's Song'' and ``Land and Freedom,'' Loach's best films of late - ``Riff-Raff,'' ``Raining Stones,'' ``Ladybird, Ladybird'' - all detail the personal struggles of Britain's poor.

``Joe'' is terrifically compelling while it's doing just that. Mullan exudes a middle-age everyguy charisma similar to that of Paul Newman a few decades back. Though Joe is unemployed and just slightly larcenous - he drives the getaway van when members of the ex-addicts soccer team he coaches steal a consignment of cool new uniforms - Mullan invests him with gruff sweetness and nigh-irresistible charm.

Joe is also touchingly vulnerable and wary of the dark side drink brought out of him. While shyly but persistently wooing government health counselor Sarah Downey (Louise Goodall), he tells her right up front what a mean drunk he used to be. This does not deter her from embarking on an affair with Joe any more than their obvious class and education differences do. The relationship proves a good one. Until ...

A subplot involving a young soccer player (David McKay) and his still-using wife (Anne-Marie Kennedy) takes on increasing significance as both Joe and Sarah try to help the troubled couple. As a result, and rather unconvincingly, Joe gets more and more deeply involved with local mobsters. The film unnecessarily descends into crime thriller cliches and violence, much of it an apparent effort to force Joe back to the bottle.

It feels like overkill. The virtues of ``My Name Is Joe'' may be small, homely ones, but they would have been amply sufficient to carry the film to a satisfying, less melodramatic conclusion.

THE FACTS

The film: ``My Name Is Joe'' (R; language, violence, nudity, sex, drug use, children in jeopardy).

The stars: Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, David McKay, Anne-Marie Kennedy, Gary Lewis.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Ken Loach. Written by Paul Laverty. Produced by Rebecca O'Brien. Released by Artisan Entertainment.

Running time: One hour, 45 minutes.

Playing: Landmark NuWilshire, Santa Monica.

Our rating: Three stars.

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Photo

Photo: Peter Mullan plays a man trying to stay sober in ``My Name Is Joe.''