`SOUR GRAPES' A MAJOR MISFIRE IN `SEINFELD'-ESQUE COMEDY DERBY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

``Sour Grapes'' should seem somewhat familiar to fans of ``Seinfeld.'' But only in a Bizarro Jerry kind of way.

Written and directed by the landmark sitcom's co-creator Larry David, the movie applies unlikely humor to petty, self-interested and generally boorish behavior, and its plot is a study of how small, fundamentally meaningless missteps can balloon into outlandish catastrophes.

In that way it's like an extended ``Seinfeld,'' with a crucial difference: ``Seinfeld'' is really funny.

Throughout ``Sour Grapes,'' the kind of grandly venal comedy that is David's forte begins to take shape, but dissipates before it's paid off. Maybe that's because the movie lacks the pacing that the half-hour TV format demands, or maybe it's just that this kind of humor works best accompanied by a laugh track. Whatever, the jokes in the movie just don't have much zing.

Then again, maybe all David's obsessive comic dialogue really requires is actors who are talented enough to speak it.

Steven Weber, former star of the decidedly sub-``Seinfeld'' sitcom ``Wings,'' and Craig Bierko (``The Long Kiss Goodnight'') are close cousins Evan and Richie. Evan is a brain surgeon who, apparently just for plot reasons, also performs groin operations upon request.

Richie designs soles for athletic shoes. Although he eventually finds the character, Bierko initially talks like Jerry, walks like Kramer, gets angry like George and, at one point, shouts ``get outta here,'' paraphrasing Elaine's tagline.

This part of the performance sets the tone, if you can call it that, for the whole movie: lots of familiar ``Seinfeld'' mannerisms that fail to mesh in a pleasing way. Richie also has some bizarre personality quirks for the first 10 minutes of the movie; they're forgotten as the plot kicks in, replaced by decreasingly clever eccentricities.

Evan and Richie go to Atlantic City with their respective girlfriends (Karen Sillas and Robyn Peterman). Just about tapped out, Richie borrows two quarters from Evan for a final slot machine pull. Of course, he hits the jackpot - $436,000 and change - on the 75-cent investment. In a generous mood, Richie offers his cousin a whopping thousand bucks.

The brain surgeon feels he deserves at least half the haul; more like two thirds. Richie doesn't see it that way. Each guy's girlfriend agrees with the other cousin's point of view. Richie's meddling mother, Selma (Viola Harris), doesn't believe her son owes Evan anything.

The resentful doctor pulls a medical practical joke on Richie. Richie overreacts and thereby endangers his mother. Word of the escalating disaster reaches Evan just as he's about to perform a particularly delicate operation ...

And yadda yadda yadda, only minus the ha-has that should accompany such nasty complications. In typical ``Seinfeld'' fashion, the film grows darker and lewder as it goes along (``Sour Grapes' '' pioneers weird new ground in the field of crotch jokes, which I guess is some kind of achievement). There's also some scathing satire involving a ``Friends''-like TV show, which amusingly indicates what David thinks of the most successful ``Seinfeld'' rip-off.

Such well-wrought sardonicism, however, is but consolation for a movie that never quite shifts into the right comic gear.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Sour Grapes'' (R; sex, language).

The stars: Craig Bierko, Steven Weber, Matt Keeslar, Karen Sillas, Robyn Peterman, Viola Harris.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Larry David. Produced by Laurie Lennard. Released by Columbia Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 32 minutes.

Playing: AMC Promenade 16, Woodland Hills; Santa Monica 7, Santa Monica; Beverly Center, West Hollywood; United Artists, Westwood; Century 14, Century City.

Our rating: Two and One Half Stars.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Steven Weber, left, and Craig Bierko star in ``Sour Grapes.''