'DEDICATION' ILLUSTRATES LOVE AMONG WORLD OF MISFITS.

Byline: BOB STRAUSS

>FILM CRITIC

Well-regarded actor Justin Theroux's (David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr.," TV's "Six Feet Under") directing debut, "Dedication," is an interesting one. It's one of those eccentric romances that careens back and forth from unique character study to cutesy condescension. But what works about it is very good and makes us want to see what Theroux could do with a more consistent property.

The fact that the director began his creative career as an illustrator may account for some of the movie's best moments, which usually involve amusing insights into the world of children's book publishing (the script is by first-timer David Bromberg). I doubt that everybody charged with teaching our little darlings how to read is as screwed-up as this bunch. But some of them surely must be, and it's a fun concept regardless.

Writer Henry Roth (Billy Crudup) is a real mess. Forever reeling from some long-ago childhood traumas, he's as paranoid, misanthropic and intimacy-

averse as the day is long. Only his degenerate father figure of an illustrator, Rudy Holt (Tom Wilkinson), can get Henry going in any kind of productive direction. In Rudy's mind, that process usually starts with dragging his younger partner to Times Square porn theaters.

Shortly after the team creates an inexplicably successful Christmas beaver franchise (Henry likes to tell little kids that there is no Santa Claus at book signings), Rudy goes to that great double entendre dam in the sky (he keeps coming back as a figment/ghost/unheeded advisor). Devastated, Henry indulges in severe fits of lying on the floor under stacks of heavy books. And, of course, writer's block.

Desperate to get a new beaver book out in time for the next holiday season, wryly manipulative editor Arthur Planck (Bob Balaban) hires comely lost soul Lucy Riley (Mandy Moore) to be the new artist. She brings a truckload of her own issues to the party -- her bipolar mother/

landlady (an inconsistent Dianne Wiest) wants to evict her, and a cad of a professor (Martin Freeman of the BBC "Office") who broke her heart has apparently dedicated his own book to Lucy and wants back into her life. Planck offers Lucy a huge sum if she can just get Henry writing again.

Naturally, Henry bitterly alienates her the first couple of times they meet. But gradually ... well, you know. Then Henry finds out how much Lucy is really getting paid.

The usual misunderstandings and last-minute rushes to stop the departing loved one mar what otherwise is often a pretty tough-minded look at love between difficult individuals. Moore is solid, and Crudup is inventively damaged, although he may be playing these kinds of lovably unlovable characters a little too much for his own good (see "Trust the Man" and "World Traveler" -- or, rather, don't; this is his best iteration of the type).

Electronically flashy visual transitions and a downer music score don't really add much. As a minor point of interest, Peter Bogdanovich appears in one scene and says nothing.

Bob Strauss [phone]

[e-mail]

DEDICATION - Two and one half stars

>R: nudity, sex, language.

>Starring: Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Tom Wilkinson, Bob Balaban, Martin Freeman, Dianne Wiest.

>Director: Justin Theroux.

>Running time: 1 hr. 33 min.

>Playing: Laemmle Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Landmark, West L.A.

>In a nutshell: Misfit romance keeps dancing on the thin line between whimsy and compelling character study.

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Photo:

Mandy Moore is an illustrator, with Martin Freeman as the professor who broke her heart in "Dedication."