HIGH SCHOOL SATIRE `JAWBREAKER' NIPS RATHER THAN BITES.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

No film genre needs a black comic lampoon like the high school movie does. Superficial, prom-obsessed pictures are a drug on the market right now. They can be made cheaply, and don't require much talent either, to profitably pander to young audiences that apparently can't get enough idealized representations of themselves, no matter how lame or unrealistic.

``Jawbreaker,'' sad to say, is not the vicious swat of a satire this cycle deserves. It's spirit is in the right, mean place, but the movie's exaggerated teen archetypes are as transparent as the sweeter films' straight-A quarterbacks and Cinderella shy girls.

It doesn't help that newly minted writer-director Darren Stein (whose first movie, ``Sparkler,'' is scheduled for release next month) has a sense of satire that veers more toward the outre than the outrageous. Many of the apparent jokes here are kind of interesting, but only because they make you wonder why somebody thought they'd be funny.

Take the main idea, if you will. Three of the most popular girls at Ronald Reagan High School kidnap a fourth as a birthday prank, toss her into the trunk of a car and drive to a Denny's, where they'll presumably perform the humiliating ritual of making her eat pancakes.

Trouble is, the buddies gagged their victim with a jawbreaker and duct tape, the big ball of candy slipped down her windpipe, and when the trunk is opened, she's dead. Courtney, the sadistic leader of the clique (played with lip-smacking amorality by the future Mrs. Marilyn Manson, Rose McGowan), quickly hatches an elaborate scheme to paint the dead girl as a rough-sex addict who was murdered by some sleazy pickup.

Of Courtney's compatriots, Marcie (Julie Benz) will go along with anything to stay in the power group, while Julie (``Urban Legend's'' Rebecca Gayheart) gets pangs of conscience. Unattractive dweeb girl Fern (Judy Evans Greer), who worshiped the dead girl from afar, stumbles onto the conspiracy but is bought off by Courtney's promise/threat to make her over into a teen queen if she keeps her mouth shut.

Despite the best efforts of Detective, um, Vera Cruz (Pam Greer), Courtney's little deception moves along swimmingly. But then that traitor Julie conspires to embarrass her ex-friend at the prom . . . Which, if successful, would of course be a fate worse than death.

Hardly ``Heathers,'' but mighty derivative of it, ``Jawbreaker'' gets whatever juice it can claim from McGowan. The girl doesn't flinch from the vilest, cattiest, pettiest behavior. Indeed, she revels in cartoon wickedness; her sheer glee at exploring just how perverse she can get in what is, in the end, a mainstream youth comedy is infectious.

Stein gussies things up in bright candy colors, fun fashion atrocities, quirky pop-thrash music and fringe culture cameos (Hey, isn't that the guy from ``Taxi'' no one remembers? Wow, Marilyn Manson looks like a chemistry major without his makeup!). None of it gives the movie narrative energy or a consistent comic tone. If anything, it plays like a disjointed, hyper-real fever dream of what bad girls are like but really aren't.

``Jawbreaker'' is not as dumb as your average high school movie. But it's still bubble gum noir, an awkward blend if there ever was one.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Jawbreaker'' (R; sex, violence, language, drug use).

The stars: Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, Judy Evans Greer, Chad Christ.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Darren Stein. Produced by Stacy Kramer and Lisa Tornell. Released by TriStar Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 27 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and one half stars.

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Photo

Photo: Popular girls played by Julie Benz, left, Rebecca Gayheart and Rose McGowan try to cover up a mean prank in ``Jawbreaker.''