A PLANE FALLS, AND A PLOT BEGINS IN `RANDOM HEARTS'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Taking the tried-and-true movie concept of ``meet cute'' and standing it on its ear, director Sydney Pollack has some pretty interesting aspirations for his latest movie, ``Random Hearts,'' but his good intentions are mostly lost in a fundamentally ridiculous construct.

The filmmakers assume that the audience will root for its unlikely lovers, who meet courtesy of a double whammy - a tragedy and a betrayal. The movie's deliberate pace, along with some rather strained attempts to build romance out of disaster, winds up sabotaging its aims, however, reducing ``Random Hearts'' to a rather high-minded adult misfire.

Harrison Ford stars as Dutch Van Den Broeck, a taciturn internal-affairs sergeant in the Washington, D.C., police force. He's married, comfortable, respected. One night, waiting for his wife to join him for dinner, Dutch hears of an airliner crash in the Chesapeake Bay. He gives no thought to it until he checks his messages and learns that his wife might have been on the plane.

In short order, Dutch learns that not only was his wife on the plane, she was traveling as the ``wife'' of another man. Both died in the crash. Ever the investigator, Dutch tracks down the man's widow, a well-bred congresswoman from New Hampshire, Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas). Dutch wants to learn as much as he can about why his wife strayed and, equally important, why he didn't have a clue. ``I get paid to know who's lying,'' Dutch says. He's tortured by his ignorance.

Chandler is in the middle of a re-election campaign and wants nothing to do with Dutch or his discoveries. She's afraid of how the revelations might play on the evening news and is protective of her teen-age daughter (Kate Mara, in a nicely finessed turn). It doesn't take long for Dutch to wear her down, however, and they soon begin a love affair that has Dutch asking pointedly, ``Are you sorry the plane went down?''

The screenplay, written by frequent Pollack collaborator Kurt Luedtke (``Out of Africa,'' ``Absence of Malice'') and based on Warren Adler's 1984 best seller, takes its sweet time arriving at the emotional core of its story, wandering off needlessly into a sorry subplot involving a crooked cop Dutch is investigating. But when it stays on track, ``Random Hearts'' possesses a brutal honesty about the gut-wrenching devastation felt by those betrayed by their spouses. The film makes you feel their pain.

With that in mind, it's curious that Pollack chose to give the movie a high-end, glossy romantic sheen, a look common to most of his work, including his last effort with Ford, ``Sabrina.'' Ford, in fact, has become Pollack's de facto stand-in for Robert Redford (Pollack and Redford teamed for six movies, including ``Out of Africa'' and ``The Way We Were''), playing his part with the same remote impassivity that characterized Redford's work.

Ford doesn't quite pull it off, although he makes clear the inner demons that drive his character's painful (and ultimately impossible) quest.

That Dutch's personal mission should include a furtive romance is what eventually makes ``Random Hearts'' feel like a fake. While it's certainly possible to make lemonade out of lemons, this sweet-and-sour romance tries to be all things and winds up being not quite satisfying in the process.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Random Hearts'' (R; brief violence, sexuality and language).

The stars: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charles S. Dutton, Sydney Pollack.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Sydney Pollack. Screenplay by Kurt Luedtke, based on Darryl Ponicsan's adaption of Warren Adler's novel. Released by Columbia Pictures.

Running time: Two hours, 11 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and one half stars.

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Photo

Photo: Harrison Ford is a cop who didn't know his wife was cheating on him in ``Random Hearts.''