LOTHARIO'S SEX LIFE NEARLY DEAD IN 'CASANOVA'S' VENICE.

Byline: David Kronke Staff Writer

EVERYONE'S SETTLING down in sex comedies these days: the libidinous louts of ``Wedding Crashers,'' ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' and even the guy who gave womanizing its brand name, ``Casanova.''

This surprisingly chaste ``Casanova'' is directed by Lasse Hallstrom with such a souffle-light, crowd-pleasing touch that you'd swear he was some gifted music-video director and not a veteran of Swedish cinema. It depicts our titular hero (Heath Ledger) as a major player for all of about five minutes. From there on out, it's all about finding the one.

Of course, he's ordered to do so by local authorities if he's to remain in Venice, a paradise of overflowing pulchritude so exactingly lit and digitally worried-over it appears to be a pastel realm you might not find too far from Toontown at Disneyland. And, naturally, he's finally met the woman of his dreams, the headstrong and - need we say it? - beautiful Francesca (Sienna Miller, best-known in America for her travails with her own personal Casanova, Jude Law).

Certainly, complications must be muddled through. First, Francesca doesn't know Casanova's true identity (which, honestly, has to be the worst-kept secret in all of Venice, but it seems that those who need to know most of all simply don't), but she knows she hates the vile, philandering fellow of local legend.

Too, Casanova has become engaged to a lustful young virgin (Natalie Dormer), with whom Francesca's nebbishy brother (Charlie Cox) is hopelessly smitten. Francesca herself has been promised, sight unseen, to a grand behemoth of a lard mogul (Oliver Platt); said betrothal is apparently the only way Francesca's family is to escape the poverty they really don't seem to be suffering through.

And, yes, the Inquisition - in the form of Instigator Pucci (Jeremy Irons) - is very keen on slipping a noose around Casanova's neck for ``criminal licentiousness.'' (Pucci doesn't know it, but he wouldn't mind executing Francesca, as well, for heresy: She's ghost-written the 16th-century version of ``The Rules.'')

Whew. Needless to say, ``Casanova'' is a frenetic farce chockablock with mistaken identities, convenient last-second escapes and way too many pratfalls. It may be the first lavish costume spectacle to cater to Adam Sandler fans.

(And yes, it's Venice; and yes, everyone has British accents. How many people do you suppose have seen Hollywood films set in ye olde Italy and been surprised when visiting to discover that they speak Italian there?)

Ledger - whose acting here is a world away, in virtually every respect (except, relatively speaking, quality-wise) from his work in the laconic, celebrated ``Brokeback Mountain'' - is far droller than the movie around him.

Omid Djalili, as Ledger's manservant, matches him in deadpan wit; they make a nice comic duo. Irons, for one, goes well over the top, as does Platt, though more amusingly.

Had the filmmakers aspired to match Ledger's sensibility, ``Casanova'' might have been something more than a frothy, forgettable diversion; as is, many should enjoy its carefully calculated manipulations.

Note: This is one chaste R-rated film. In fact, in Canada and England, it merits no more than a PG, except in Quebec, where it actually got a G. The French - even the French-Canadians - they get this kind of behavior.

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

CASANOVA - Two and one half stars

(R: some sexual content)

Starring: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Oliver Platt, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin.

Director: Lasse Hallstrom.

Running time: 1 hr. 48 min.

Playing: Opens Sunday in selected theaters.

In a nutshell: Heath Ledger drolly essays the legendary womanizer in this frothily romantic concoction that's downright frenzied. Some will find it far too precious; others will be seduced.

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Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller ride along in this crowd-pleasing but peculiarly chaste affair.