FAMILY FOIBLES RUN NORTH AND SOUTH.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

THERE ARE stereotypes in ``Junebug.'' Moralism, too.

These elements are not usually a part of good movies. But first-time feature director Phil Morrison, playwright Angus MacLachlan and an extraordinary cast find gnarly human truths in material that, in less astute hands, could have degenerated into a Southern fried ``Meet the Parents.'' Or a sermon.

Honored at a number of prestigious film festivals, including Cannes and Sundance, ``Junebug'' messes with a mess of prejudices about heartless urban sophisticates and narrow- minded country folk. But it ends up shedding laser-specific light on the foibles of both, and does so with great humor and a sense of judgment that can be harsh but, refreshingly, refuses to turn simplistic or sentimental.

Native North Carolinians themselves, Morrison and MacLachlan can't very well be accused of exploiting down-home cliches. But for the longest time, ``Junebug'' seems to be on the side of visitor Madeleine (``Schindler's List's'' Embeth Davidtz), a skinny, sophisticated, vaguely British gallery operator in Chicago. She's come to grassy, humid Piedmont country to try to convince a talented but mentally challenged local primitivist to let her represent his artwork.

Coincidentally, the family of her new, younger husband George (Alessandro Nivola) lives nearby. He hasn't been back there in years for reasons that remain unknown, but since they're in the neighborhood, the new couple really must drop in. The in-laws aren't exactly thrilled by the prospect. George's mother, Peg (Celia Weston), is overjoyed to see her favorite son but deems androgynous Madeleine unsuitable at first sight. George's surly little brother Johnny (``The O.C.'s'' Benjamin McKenzie) still resents his better-loved sibling something fierce. Their dad, Eugene (Scott Wilson), just doesn't say much to anybody.

One member of the household is ecstatic, though. To Johnny's very pregnant, ultra-chatty wife, Ashley (Amy Adams, the girl who almost married Leonardo DiCaprio in ``Catch Me If You Can''), Madeleine represents everything an accomplished woman of the world should be, and probably also everything about her own dead-end, small-town life she dreams of escaping. Though different from one another in every possible way, the two women become fast, genuine friends.

Still, Madeleine's efforts to reach out to other in-laws blow up in her earnest but sometimes condescending face. She also discovers that her dreamboat husband, with whom she seems to have mainly a physical relationship, has a history of smoking (she hides her own cig use from him), church-supper entertaining and deep, if conflicted, moral beliefs that she never would have guessed were there. When a family crisis and a business crisis pop up simultaneously, Madeleine appears to act like the worst conservative image of an elite, liberal careerist.

Yet the men in this family are so uniformly constricted when it comes to emotional communication, they hardly paint a pretty picture of traditional values. In the end, everybody is granted a little grace, but left with the burden of a whole lot that they need to get straight.

Adams and McKenzie have the showiest roles. She does a great job of humanizing a character that's a little too comically written, and he brings just the right shades of pathetic dangerousness to a redneck loser who may have just a little more potential in him.

Everybody here, though, proves an integral part of a near-great American movie, in which people are paradoxically united by their conflicting bad attitudes, and family values are calculated by what you can put up with while still remaining true to your proud, cussed self.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

JUNEBUG - Three and one half stars

(R: sex, nudity, language, racism, violence)

Starring: Embeth Davidtz, Amy Adams, Alessandro Nivola, Benjamin McKenzie, Celia Weston, Scott Wilson.

Director: Phil Morrison.

Running time: 1 hr. 47 min.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Monicas, Santa Monica; South Coast Village 3, Costa Mesa.

In a nutshell: Sort of a Dixie-set, indie ``Meet the Parents.'' But with much better-fleshed-out stereotypes and an elastic moral curiosity that puts both red and blue state attitudes to shame.

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Photo:

Alessandro Nivola plays a Southerner whose mother, portrayed by Celia Weston, isn't impressed with his new wife, in ``Junebug.''