BURNS TURNS UP HEAT WITH `SHE'S THE ONE'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Edward Burns is sort of becoming the Irish-American Woody Allen. With his second film, ``She's the One,'' the writer-director-star of ``The Brothers McMullen'' once again examines the comic complications of love, lust and guilt.

Though it can't honestly be said that ``She's the One'' goes anywhere new or deeper on those subjects, it is a slicker and sleeker effort. Burns has got half of a hot cast - ``The Mask's'' sultry Cameron Diaz, ``Friends' '' hairdo heroine Jennifer Aniston, ``Frasier's'' dad John Mahoney as, well, Dad - this time, as well as a made-to-order soundtrack by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (well, we didn't say he was exactly like Woody Allen).

Burns once again hurls competitive Catholic brothers - once again played by himself and fellow McMullen Mike McGlone - against romantic brick walls, then gleefully records their resulting addled behavior. It's funny, occasionally revealing stuff. But if Burns is ever really going to challenge the Woodman, he'll have to widen his horizons.

In the meantime, Burns is mastering his craft nicely. ``She's the One'' has a stronger farce structure than the first film, and more amusingly convoluted rationalizations for its men's - if not its women's - bad behavior.

This time, the tight-knit Long Island clan calls itself the Fighting Fitzpatricks. That's the name of Dad's boat, on which he imparts his highly questionable wisdom of the heart to his sons. Significantly, Mrs. Fitzpatrick is never seen. But the younger generations' love lives are evidence enough that father doesn't know much.

Mickey (Burns) drives a cab when the spirit moves him; he's essentially been adrift since the time, years ago, when he caught his ex-fiancee passed out on the floor with a strange guy. After fetching fare Hope (``McMullen's'' Bahns) flags him down for what becomes a long, romantic drive to New Orleans, however, Mickey becomes alarmingly, impulsively motivated. They return to New York married strangers.

Younger Francis (McGlone) has no problems in the go-go department. He's a Wall Street hotshot with a chauffeur, an adorable wife, Rene (Aniston), and a wickedly provocative mistress, Heather (Diaz). Well, OK, he's not going for Rene anymore - in his absurd moral labyrinth, he can't bring himself to cheat on his girlfriend with his wife.

Who for her part, is starting to worry that her husband is gay. Wrong, but you can't blame the poor, perfectly desirable Rene for not guessing the awful truth: that Heather is the very woman Mickey caught with her pants down. And when Mickey finds out his brother is dating his ex, Mickey's own overnight marriage is jeopardized.

Can such a complicated situation be settled with boxing gloves in the back yard? Dad thinks so.

As he was in ``McMullen,'' McGlone is brilliant as a young man whose ethical compass points in every direction but true right. He deceives everyone, but most heinously himself (and that's really heinous). Whether trying to skunk intimate information out of his brother or deflect his wife's affections, Francis is the most intensely hilarious hypocrite in many a movie moon. And you feel sorry for him in the end, even as you relish the jerk getting everything he deserves.

Burns is not in McGlone's acting league, and as a result Mickey comes off like a bit of a sad sack. It doesn't help that Hope - who is played, shades of Woody, by Burns' real-life girlfriend - is immature and capricious, but is worshipfully set up here, in the words of Petty's ``Walls,'' as the heart so big she could crush this town.

Love may be loony, but that's not convincing for a minute. Especially when the other two women are so comparatively alluring.

Aniston really proves her acting mettle in a thoroughly thankless role. Rene is always griping, but Aniston never emits a single gratuitous whine; she knows that Rene's nature is irrepressibly sweet and her every complaint is justified. It's the trickiest pitch imaginable, and Aniston hits it every time - until her character is unwisely written out of the action.

In a shrewd move, Diaz insisted that Burns rewrite Heather to her specifications. The result is brilliant, not-so-bad-girl fun. Diaz knows how to jazz a ``sorry I ruined your life'' attitude to its dangerous, seductive extreme, but Heather never becomes hateable. In the end, she's as confused by love as everyone else is.

Which, for all the misaligned male bonding Burns details so knowingly, is clearly the filmmaker's true obsession. Like many guys, Burns is more comfortable in the company of men he doesn't like than women he adores. That's been good for two smart, funny movies - but if he isn't careful, it could end up being his whole career.

THE FACTS

The film: ``She's the One'' (R; language, sex, adult situations).

The stars: Jennifer Aniston, Maxine Bahns, Edward Burns, Cameron Diaz, John Mahoney, Mike McGlone.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Edward Burns. Produced by Burns, Ted Hope and James Schamus. Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 37 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Francis Fitzpatrick (Mike McGlone) and wife, Rene (J ennifer Aniston), are a couple in trouble in ``She's the One.''