DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

An invitation to `Wedding Crashers'

Spying a woman at a wedding he's crashing, Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) turns to fellow crasher John (Owen Wilson), and says, ``Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bull's-eye.''

If you saw Vaughn in the 1996 ``Swingers,'' you get the feeling that Jeremy is the latter film's Trent, who asked, ``Ma'am, where do the high-school girls hang out in this town?''

In ``Wedding Crashers,'' Jeremy and John are a pair of divorce mediators in Washington, D.C., who spend their summers invading high-class wedding parties - it doesn't matter if its Jewish, gentile or Chinese - usually becoming the life of the party and scoring - over and over - with young women anxious for a little romance. (Having not seen ``Wedding Crashers'' in a theater, I suspect the ``Uncorked'' DVD version has more nudity, much of it in the first rollicking 20 minutes or so.)

Then they hit the jackpot with the wedding thrown by Treasury Secretary William Cleary (Christopher Walken) and his wife (Jane Seymour) for their eldest daughter. This is where the boys' formula goes awry, when John - who up until then tended to use the oily pickup line, ``I think we only use 10 percent of our hearts'' - falls for one of the cabinet secretary's remaining unmarried daughters, Claire (Rachel McAdams),

while Jeremy has sex with the other, Gloria (Isla Fisher). Little do they know they are stepping into a loony bin of the rich and aimless.

Still, while the filmmakers seem determined to throw out the message ``love conquers all'' amid the raunchy comedy, watching Vaughn spit out his lines with gusto is pure joy. Wilson is a hoot, too. (You wonder how many zingers came from their lips rather than the screenwriters' word processors.) The two have such an amiable likability and a natural comic absurdity that you hope they get together again.

McAdams and Fisher are also eminently watchable for different reasons. McAdams is a fine actress who exudes tons of charm, even when asked to do so little with the role of Claire. Fisher is a revelation - so weirdly funny you can't take your eyes off her, a scene stealer - and we don't just mean the scene where she has Vaughn's character tied up and gagged.

This may not be a great film, but it and ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' are the two funniest movies of 2005 - no contest.

The DVD has the usual goofy extras - including deleted scenes - but the best is Wilson and Vaughn doing commentary. It's wild at times - as you would expect - but the pair also get serious when talking about how they came up with ideas for the film. And Wilson admits being uneasy about groping Jane Seymour's breasts. ``I like to come off with a lot of bravado ... but the truth is I was nervous filming that scene, and it is awkward doing that.'' Well, it was a tough job.

``Wedding Crashers - Uncorked'' (New Line; $28.98 for the unrated or R-rated editions)

`Broken Flowers'

The problem with minimalism is that sometimes it's hard to know if anything is there. I once attended a Mark Rothko exhibition that included some of his later works - large-scale oils of mostly black, brown or gray areas. It took a while to see the desolation in the paintings, which were done not long before his suicide.

I find the music of Phillip Glass compelling, like ocean waves at the beach - subtly ever-changing but powerful. But Jim Jarmusch is another matter.

His recent film ``Broken Flowers'' has been called sly by one critic and touching by another, but I found it too cool - as in Jarmusch is too cool to deal in real emotion, real life.

``Broken Flowers'' stars Bill Murray as an aging Don Juan, a retired computer entrepreneur named Don Johnston (yes, that's supposed to be a joke) living in some nondescript Northeast town.

When we meet Don, his live-in French girlfriend Sherry (Julie Delphy) is leaving (``I don't know you anymore''), and the middle-age lothario's response is to watch an old movie on television, apparently the only emotion he can muster. As Sherry says goodbye, an anonymous letter arrives, typed in red ink on pink stationery, telling Don that 20 years earlier he fathered a son. The note - apparently from one of Don's former lovers - adds that the boy may be looking for him.

He does nothing, but his industrious immigrant neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright) convinces Don that he should solve the mystery. Grudgingly, but with Winston's help, Don then sets out for brief reunions with four women - played by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton - he thinks might be the mother (if, of course, the whole thing isn't a joke).

He pulls up to each house in a rented car with a bouquet of flowers, looking for the odd clues here and there among the odd re-encounters. While Don's a gentleman, it's hard to see what these women ever would have seen in him. It's hard to see what ever made him vital. His sense of romanticism is as hokey and flat and colorless as an old-time black-and-white movie, making you wonder how he could have ever connected with anybody made of flesh and blood.

The whole endeavor seems artificial, and Murray, who has become Mr. Minimalist Actor, doesn't betray any emotion. We have no idea why Don's soul is like a desert, and when he has his lost moment at the end of the film, you can only shrug.

My wife suggested that perhaps the film had some other meaning, with Don somehow representing America (after all, a Frenchwoman leaves and tells him she doesn't understand him) and the other women - who are ciphers in the film, anyway - representing different aspects of the country's hope, dreams and unfulfilled promise. Jarmusch has not said any of this, and only a few critics - mostly in Europe - have suggested it.

But it's an interesting idea and, if nothing else, it speaks to the fact that a film this cool, detached and almost inert lends itself to interpretation. Sly? Touching? Barely there? I'll buy that.

``Broken Flowers'' (Universal; $29.98)

`The Gospel,' `The Cave,' `Secuestro Express,' `Snatch,' `Dumb and Dumber'

Rob Hardy's film ``The Gospel'' is loosely based on the story of the prodigal son from the New Testament. Boris Kodjoe plays David Taylor, a successful r&b singer who returns home to Atlanta, after hearing of his father's failing health. David had left 15 years before in anger after feeling his father, a reverend, neglected his mother during her fatal illness in favor of seeing to his ministry.

Though he has rejected the church in favor of a secular lifestyle, it isn't long - not surprisingly - before the singer is singing a different tune and style. ``The Gospel'' is pretty minor fare meant to raise your spirits. At least the presence of some real gospel singers keeps it lively at times.

``The Cave'' is another creature feature in which an unsuspecting group goes into a dark place and ends up at the bottom of the food chain. As usual, there is an ethnic mix for the creature to choose from, but the the best thing would have been a cave-in.

``Secuestro Express,'' directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz, uses the kidnapping of a young couple to depict the unease found in parts of South America, in this case Venezuela. Abductions are a business in such countries, where high rates of poverty go hand in hand with the crime rate. ``Secuestro Express'' - with its jangly action and deadly characters - acts as social commentary in the guise of a thriller.

Before becoming Mr. Madonna, British director Guy Ritchie made a couple of fun crime-caper thrill rides - ``Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' and ``Snatch.'' The latter title is out in a special edition with some nice touches. ``Snatch'' stars Brad Pitt as an Irish brawler. Though complicated, the plot is so oddly comic, you never care if you're lost with characters that sound like they're out of Dick Tracy - Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina), Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) and Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). Considering that Ritchie hasn't done anything this good since his marriage, you gotta wonder.

And for fans of dumb comedies, you can't get much dumber or funnier than ``Dumb and Dumber.'' A new unrated edition with deleted scenes is available.

``The Gospel'' (Columbia; $28.95)

``The Cave'' (Columbia; $28.95)

``Secuestro Express'' (Miramax; $29.99)

``Snatch - Deluxe Edition'' (Columbia; $19.94)

``Dumb and Dumber - Unrated Edition'' (New Line; $19.98)

`Gunsmoke' and more TV

In 1955, ``Gunsmoke,'' along with ``The Legend of Wyatt Earp,'' introduced the adult Western to television. Up until then, oaters had pretty much been Saturday matinee shoot-'em-up affairs. Though not an immediate hit, ``Gunsmoke'' took off in its second year and, although nearly dying a few times, remarkably ran until 1975.

There were two constants on the show - James Arness and Milburn Stone. The 6-foot-7 Arness - who had been recommended for the role of Marshal Matt Dillon by John Wayne, who turned it down - proved a towering presence on the show. There was something about him that spoke to the character's strength and righteousness. Stone played the kindly Doc Adams, Dodge City's physician. (The show was set in the Kansas town in the 1870s.) And, like most of Dodge's residents, they liked to spend time hoisting a few in the Long Branch Saloon owned by Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake).

While ``Gunsmoke'' was for adults, it wasn't that adult - Miss Kitty, who it was implied was a madam on the radio series, never exchanged more than some longing looks on the TV show. Still, ``Gunsmoke's'' success can be attributed to a well-acted drama with some interesting stories on some interesting topics with occasional gunplay.

Other TV-related shows are listed below.

``Gunsmoke - 50th Anniversary Edition, Volume 1 and 2'' (Paramount; $36.99 for each volume, $68.99. for set)

``Have Gun Will Travel - The Complete Third Season'' (Paramount; $59.99)

``American Experience - The Great San Francisco Earthquake'' (WGBH; $19.95)

``As Time Goes By: Reunion Special'' (PBS; $29.98)

``All in the Family: The Complete Fifth Season (Columbia; $29.95)

``Silk Stalkings - Season Four'' (Anchor Bay; $39.98)

``Alien Nation - The Complete Series'' (Fox; $49.98)

``Hunter: The Complete Third Season'' (Anchor Bay; $39.98)

``The Merv Griffin Show: 40 of the Most Interesting People of All Time'' (Alpha Video; $29.98)

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) OWEN WILSON and VINCE VAUGHN in ``Wedding Crashers''

(2) CLIFTON POWELL in ``The Gospel''

(3) BILL MURRAY in ``Broken Flowers''

(4) JAMES ARNESS in ``Gunsmoke''