QUIRKY `LAWN DOGS' BARKS AT SUBURBAN HYPOCRISY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

A little risky, somewhat cartoonish and definitely quirky, ``Lawn Dogs'' provides mild smiles and some serious discomfort. It takes easy pot shots at the hypocrisy of affluent suburbanites and goes into much dicier territory with a chaste, but still mighty dark, ``Lolita'' plot line.

The film wants to say something about class prejudice in America's heartland, but that message is presented too broadly to effectively hit precise points. What ``Lawn Dogs'' does very well, though, is capture the details of a strange, poignant and edgy relationship between two mismatched misfits.

Ten-year-old Devon Stockard, played by the extremely solid and versatile Mischa Barton, recently has moved into a Kentucky suburb with her smug, upper-middle-class parents (Kathleen Quinlan and Christopher McDonald). Their gated community, Camelot Gardens, has an entrance that looks like a medieval battlement, the better to let the nearby yokels know that their peasant-stock persons aren't welcome inside.

Except, of course, to perform certain labors, such as trimming the massive lawns Camelot residents have cultivated to a surreal expanse. Trent Burns, 21, is one of those tractor-mower jockeys. He lives in a trailer down by the river, and is played by Sam Rockwell, whose backwoods eccentric from last year's ``Box of Moonlight'' was very different from Trent. For one thing, Trent has done time. And, even though he's basically easygoing, he has an ornery redneck streak that the rich girls find exciting.

A morbid little girl who has survived much serious heart surgery, Devon takes a curious, secret liking to Trent. She hates her status-conscious, hypocritical parents, tears the limbs off her dolls, and, when she's supposed to be selling Young Rangers cookies, goes out of bounds and visits Trent's encampment instead. He, naturally, doesn't want a little girl hanging around. But, both wounded creatures, they bond anyway, soon becoming fast friends. Of course, a relationship like this is headed for trouble. And, when word about it gets out in Camelot, well, parents just don't understand these kinds of things.

The director is John Duigan, who has made some very nice Australian movies (``The Year My Voice Broke,'' ``Flirting'') about odd, interesting young people. Though she's set up like a Wednesday-Addams-with-psychology, Devon is a fully imagined character, fueled by rage and longing and a believable drive to define what may be a short life on her own terms. A real find, Barton subtly puts across all of Devon's complexities, without ever forgetting that this precocious preteen is still very much a little girl.

However good he is with kids, Duigan has a tendency to caricature adult characters and ideas. This worked with ``Sirens,'' a supposedly serious attack on Victorian repression that degenerated into a slap-and-tickle nudie romp. But in ``Lawn Dogs,'' it actually blunts the film's edge and some of its humor. Still, the movie is just strange and brave enough to keep you intrigued - and keep you guessing about just what fresh path it's going to wander down next.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Lawn Dogs'' (NR; nudity, sex, language, violence, children in jeopardy).

The stars: Mischa Barton, Sam Rockwell, Kathleen Quinlan, Christopher McDonald.

Behind the scenes: Directed by John Duigan. Written by Naomi Wallace. Produced by Duncan Kenworthy. Released by Strand Releasing.

Running time: One hour, 41 minutes.

Playing: United Artists, Woodland Hills; UA, Westwood; Beverly Center, West Hollywood; AMC Old Pasadena.

Our rating: Three Stars.