CUBA GOODING JR.'S 'RADIO' TURNS UP THE SCHMALTZ.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

IT'S ALWAYS a mistake when, in the feel-good genre, the filmmakers decide at the end of the movie to show you their real-life subject because, inevitably, the footage of the flesh-and-blood human being just points to the artificiality of everything that has come before. So it is with ``Radio,'' a glossy bit of uplift that underlines every Life Lesson it means to teach (and there are many) in such a heavy-handed manner that it makes you want to scream: ``OK, I GET IT IT'S GOOD TO TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS! NOW PLEASE, IN THE NAME OF GOD, TURN OFF THE SAPPY MUSIC!''

Or something like that. Whether you'll actually feel like bellowing at the top of your lungs while watching ``Radio'' will depend on your tolerance toward cornball sentiment in the service of a positive message. While I do share the filmmakers' opinion that kindness is indeed a good thing, I don't necessarily need to be told this in so many words. So when the movie's coach says in a Big Speech at the conclusion: ``We haven't been the ones teaching Radio. He's been teaching us,'' you want to ask, ``Do you think we're that stupid that we don't already know that?''

The filmmakers do believe you are that stupid. How else to explain James Horner's egregiously manipulative score, easily the worst crime committed to a soundtrack this year, a pastiche of soaring voices and sweeping strings that takes the composer's grating work in ``Apollo 13'' and ramps it up to a level of schmaltz that would have even Michael Bolton begging for mercy?

Remove the music and ``Radio'' is at least 25 percent better. (Test studies have proven that. Or they would if they were actually conducted.) Take away all the times that characters state the obvious and ... well ... ``Radio'' still wouldn't be a good movie, but it be a little more tolerable.

Radio, in case you were wondering, is the name of a mentally challenged man, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., who comes to touch the lives of people in a small South Carolina town when the high school football coach (Ed Harris) befriends him. Now, you may well have figured that the mentally-challenged-dude-meets-football genre had been exhausted after Adam Sandler tackled it in ``The Waterboy,'' but ``Radio'' isn't that kind of movie. It's not funny or, at least, it's not meant to be.

Along the way, there are people who have some questions about Radio's presence at the school. (He goes from being a sort of cheerleading mascot to something of a full-fledged student.) These concerns are legitimate, if you think about it, but since they're presented by straw-figure villains, the filmmakers (once again) don't give you the benefit of the doubt for having a brain. It's a black-and-white world, and if Radio doesn't teach you something Important, then you're probably a character in a Tarantino movie.

The drabness of the material (directed by Mike Tollin and written by Mike Rich) is redeemed somewhat by a strong cast, particularly Harris and S. Epatha Merkerson, who, as Radio's mother, gives the movie a dignity it doesn't otherwise deserve. And, yes, we do see the real Radio over the closing credits. Whether he'll feel like dancing after seeing this movie is debatable. I do know one thing: Any man who loves Al Green (and Radio supposedly is such a man) won't be humming along to Horner's score. And you can underline that.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

RADIO - Two stars

(PG: mild language and thematic elements)

Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris.

Director: Mike Tollin.

Running time: 1 hr. 49 min.

Playing: Wide release.

In a nutshell: Glossy bit of uplift that rams every Life Lesson down your throat.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Cuba Gooding Jr., left, plays a developmentally disabled man - named Radio - who befriends a high school football coach, portrayed by Ed Harris, in ``Radio.''