MORE FAME FOR CAPOTE WITH `INFAMOUS'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

You cannot watch ``Infamous'' without comparing and contrasting it to last year's movie about the same subject, ``Capote.'' And that's part of the fun.

Both films are smart and made with great care. So if you're interested in Truman Capote and how he wrote his landmark book, ``In Cold Blood,'' you'll want to see ``Infamous'' as much as you did the last one.

``Infamous'' screenwriter- director Douglas McGrath (``Emma'') adapted George Plimpton's book ``Truman Capote,'' a biography of the writer made up of comments from his many famous friends.

The resulting movie emphasizes the diminutive scribe's New York high life, accentuates the physical and romantic aspects of his relationship with convicted killer Perry Smith. It also gives ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' novelist Nelle Harper Lee, his childhood friend and research partner, more to do.

The big difference

It's a lot funnier, too. Perhaps the most striking difference between ``Infamous'' and ``Capote,'' though, is in the two films' Trumans. Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant, Oscar- winning performance defined Capote as representative of the ruthless artist's drive, a guy who would exploit anybody in any way to get his masterpiece made. It was an ingenious combination of impersonation and intellectual symbolism, and, though slightly subdued to achieve that effect, perfect for what it was.

``Infamous' '' Toby Jones -- who may be best-known outside his native England as the voice of Harry Potter's house elf Dobby -- presents Capote in full, flamboyant flame. He nails the writer's unique squeak of a voice, arch mannerisms and manipulative intelligence as well as Hoffman did, while making him more of the lively, flighty raconteur we saw on all of those talk shows.

Jones' portrayal feels like the truer Tru, while Hoffman's interpretation may remain the more interesting, complex one.

Plus, rather than just getting hung up in love/hate for himself, Jones' version really falls in love, which makes him a little more accessible even if his behavior is more extreme. He actually makes out with Smith, whose multiple dimensions are excellently illuminated by none other than the next James Bond, Daniel Craig.

That makes for a warmer movie about stone-cold killers and the sometimes icy realms of the upper crust. So does Sandra Bullock's more active, sometimes contentious portrayal of Harper Lee.

And then there are all those rich New York dames that Capote befriended, betrayed and used as test audiences for various truth tweaks he made to his ``nonfiction'' novel. Most are quite funny (Juliet Stevenson's Diana Vreeland wins that race hands down). Some are poignantly humanized (Sigourney Weaver's love-lacking Babe Paley). And in very enjoyable and revealing approximations of the source book's format, those ladies, Lee, Capote's editor Bennett Cerf (Peter Bogdanovich) and others tell their Truman stories directly to the camera, and offer telling insights into the complicated man.

Jeff Daniels is also outstanding as Alvin Dewey, the no- nonsense Kansas cop in charge of the farm family massacre case who became another, most unlikely friend.

The stories overlap

Some scenes and even lines overlap between ``Capote'' and ``Infamous.'' Both projects were started around the same time. The latter's release was delayed for a year because, well, too much Truman Capote can definitely be too much. But it's good that they came out at least this close to one another.

``Capote'' was a stylized, theoretical inquiry into the ethics of creativity. ``Infamous'' stylishly fills in more emotional facets of that process -- and, like the Capote that most of us think we knew, it tries to be a good time all along its merry, merciless way.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

[e-mail]

INFAMOUS - Three stars

(R: violence, language, sex, nudity)

Starring: Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Jeff Daniels, Peter Bogdanovich, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Juliet Stevenson, Sigourney Weaver.

Director: Douglas McGrath.

Running time: 1 hr. 58 min.

Playing: Selected theaters.

In a nutshell: Truman Capote's ``In Cold Blood'' years are examined in yet another smart, insightful movie. Quite interesting to compare the different angles and emphases between this one and ``Capote.''

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Sandra Bullock is Nelle Harper Lee, author of ``To Kill a Mockingbird,'' and Toby Jones portrays ``In Cold Blood'' author Truman Capote in ``Infamous.''