DON'T BE AFRAID OF 'HEIGHTS'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

HEAVEN KNOWS how many of the people who see the film ``Washington Heights'' will actually hail from Washington Heights, much less will have even heard of the largely Dominican New York neighborhood with a too-lofty-sounding name.

But even if if the film's central location is entirely a fabrication, it's easy to accept that a grocery store like Eddie Ramirez's bodega would be a neighborhood institution. Alfredo de Villa, the film's-co writer and director, clearly knows this store, this neighborhood, its sights, smells and the mannerisms of its residents.

That de Villa and co writer Nat Moss have chosen to shoehorn a pair of father-and-son tales into what should be the story of a community is unfortunate - but no kiss of death. ``Washington Heights,'' an award-winner at both the IFP West/Los Angeles Film Festival and the New York International Latino Film Festival, is an often engaging sleeper that merits audience appreciation.

The plotting feels largely by the numbers. Carlos Ramirez, (played by Manny Perez) is a budding cartoonist whose creativity may be his ticket out of the Heights (cue the ``Rocky'' soundtrack) if he can ever get past the superficiality of his strips. When dad Eddie (Tomas Milian), the neighborhood's grocer and general goodwill ambassador, is seriously injured during a bodega holdup, Carlos is essentially strong-armed into taking over the store and caring for his father.

Neither assignment is a cakewalk. Bodega management means upholding neighborhood benevolence as well as stocking the shelves. A quickly impatient Carlos soon learns that his new existence leaves not much time for inking the next hot superhero.

Complicating matters, Carlos learns that Eddie is heavily in debt to an old friend and fellow immigrant Sean Kilpatrick (Jude Ciccolella). Like Carlos, Sean's son Mickey (Danny Hoch) also has a dream: to flee the Heights via a career as a professional bowler. Also in the picture are Carlos' girlfriend Maggie (Andrea Navedo) and her shady brother Angel (Bobby Cannavale), who has the money to make an awful lot of people's lives a lot easier.

This occasionally feels like a few too many people to become acquainted with in a mere 88 minutes. De Villa and Moss linger largely over Carlos and Eddie, whose long-standing resentments bubble to the surface once Carlos becomes the ``old man's'' caregiver. Even in a wheelchair, veteran character actor Milian commands the screen as Eddie, the benevolent king of Washington Heights. Pierced and dyed Perez has a quiet, glowering charisma. In their own peculiar way, father and son are similar.

Carlos may have a life lesson or two to learn from the ``old man'' and vice versa. That the bodega and its patrons may serve as the ultimate inspiration for a comic strip is a valuable lesson as well.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS - Two and one half stars

(R: language, sex, mild violence)

Starring: Tomas Milian, Manny Perez.

Director: Alfredo de Villa.

Running time: 1 hr. 28 min.

Playing: Laemmle Fallbrook 7, Laemmle Playhouse 7, Laemmle Sunset 5, AMC Santa Monica 7, Edwards University 6, Irvine.

In a nutshell: Story of a New York neighborhood and its personalities, with a cartoonist and his bodega-owning father mixing it up.