`PLUMP FICTION' PARODY TENDS TO OVERSTAY ITS WELCOME.

Byline: Henry Sheehan Orange County Register

Movie parodies were fine as skits on the old ``Carol Burnett Show'' and can be a lot of fun with friends around a pub table, but a feature-length sendup of a popular hit - even if it adds a host of secondary targets to its main one - risks falling into the obvious. That's what happens to ``Plump Fiction,'' a burlesque of ``Pulp Fiction'' and several others.

Because ``Pulp'' - and ``Natural Born Killers,'' ``Forrest Gump'' and ``Nell'' - feature such extremes of style and/or characterization, they tend to dictate just how you should mock them.

So in the writing and staging of ``Plump Fiction,'' which opened Friday, there isn't much room to maneuver. Comedian Julie Brown may be a very funny performer, for example, but she's locked down by her jokes. Playing Mimi, the gangster's moll who is the comic version of Uma Thurman's character in the original, she has an addiction to food rather than drugs. So there are some fat jokes and some pigging-out gags that Brown milks for all they're worth, but it's not long before the cow runs dry.

What does work tends to be fast and thrown away - for example, doing the ``Reservoir Dogs'' opening sequence with a bunch of strutting nuns (actually strippers masquerading as nuns) substituting for the original black-suited gunmen in Tarantino's film.

Other jokes get some laughs because of dead-on imitations by some of the cast. Pamela Segall does a great Juliette Lewis impression as part of the so-called ``Natural Blond Killers'' sequence; on the other hand, who wants to listen to that Lewis screech all that much? Lezlie Dean delivers a cutting Nell parody, and Kane Picoy does an eerily accurate Christopher Walken, but the performances aren't really tied to much; they're just showcased.

Shown with ``Plump Fiction'' is the three-minute short ``Swing Blade,'' a cross-pollination of ``Sling Blade'' and ``Swingers'' featuring a great Billy Bob Thornton imitation by writer Chris Cox. At that length, it's just right.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Plump Fiction'' (R; coarse language, violence, sexual situations).

The stars: Julie Brown, Sandra Bernhard, Pamela Segall.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Bob Koherr. Produced by Gary Binkow. Released by Legacy Releasing.

Running time: One hour, 25 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two Stars.

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Photo

Photo: ``Plump Fiction,'' with Tommy Davidson, left, and Paul Dinello, mimics a number of recent films.