'ADAM' TRIES TO MAKE AMORALITY CUTE.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

``About Adam'' wants us to believe that its title character can lie and cheat and sleep with three sisters (while engaged to one) and still be a sweet-natured bloke who just wants to ``give people what they want.''

Yeah, right.

Even as romantic fantasies go, it's a hard idea to swallow. And ultimately, it keeps ``About Adam'' from fully succeeding in its attempt to put a wicked spin on a frothy genre. If writer-director Gerard Stembridge had been a little less concerned with making Adam so darned lovable and actually given the character some occasional shadings of darkness, the movie would be more palatable. As it is, it's at war with itself, making a despicable man into the equivalent of an amoral Furby.

The movie's structure, which owes its origins to Pasolini's 1968 masterpiece ``Teorema,'' follows Dublin dude Adam (Stuart Townsend) as he seduces each and every member of the Owens family. In four separate stories, we see four different Adams, forming a composite portrait of Ireland's most lovable monster.

Adam No. 1 meets Lucy (Kate Hudson), a winsome singing waitress who has never found passion. She finds it with Adam. She thinks of him as a kind of shy charmer who ingratiates by not coming on too strong. Lucy, accustomed to pushy dolts, eats this reticence up with a spoon.

Adam No. 2 is a Byron incarnate, sweeping middle sister Laura (Frances O'Connor) off her feet by behaving as if he has some deep tragedy lurking in his past. The two enjoy passionate lovemaking, exceeded only by their raging readings of ``Wuthering Heights.''

Then there's Adam No. 3, who's just one of the lads, content to have a pint and watch the football matches at the pub. This Adam appeals to David Owens (Alan Maher), the family's emasculated male. David needs male companionship and advice about the opposite sex (his subscription to Maxim must have expired), and the roguish Adam provides both in spades.

Lastly, there's Adam No. 4, who tempts the married Owens sister, Alice (Charlotte Bradley), with the possibility that she may still be sexually attractive despite being a middle-aged mom.

Stembridge, who also wrote the recent James Joyce love story ``Nora,'' lays the stories out with gleeful inventiveness, even if some of the plot becomes a bit repetitive by the third go-around. But Stembridge never seems to aspire toward anything beyond creating a trifle, and this devil-may-care attitude simply can't carry the day in the face of the escalating amorality.

Miramax has held ``About Adam'' for quite some time, and, judging from its advertisements, is only releasing it now to capitalize on Hudson's cache from ``Almost Famous.'' But Hudson, through no fault of her own, isn't particularly memorable in the movie.

Only Townsend, with the opportunity to become the fiendishly charming chameleon, makes much of an impression, even if that impression leaves a bad taste in your mouth afterward.

``ABOUT ADAM''

(Rated R: language, strong sexuality)

The stars: Stuart Townsend, Frances O'Connor, Kate Hudson, Charlotte Bradley.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Gerard Stembridge.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood; Landmark's Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles.

Our rating: Two and one half stars

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