SISTERS WALK TO HELL AND BACK.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

'IN HER SHOES'' covers some rocky ground. For a big studio women's picture, anyway, it goes to some very uncomfortable extremes before working things out. It's refreshingly rough for most of the film.

Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette play polar-opposite sisters.

Maggie (Diaz), the hot one, is an irresponsible, selfish dim bulb who parties her way through life, steals from the few people who offer her a place to sleep (without making her sleep with them) and can barely read.

The older sister, Rose (Collette), is a sharp Philadelphia lawyer with weight issues and few suitors. The shoe motif comes out of her closet; she buys lots of pretty ones because, unlike clothes, fine footwear always looks flattering.

Maggie tries to get Rose to loosen up and have a good time. Rose wishes Maggie would get it together and have a good life. After a betrayal, Rose tosses Maggie out of her apartment for good.

All of this sounds schematic. But up to the movie's halfway point, it certainly doesn't play that way.

Jennifer Weiner's novel was adapted by Susannah Grant (``Erin Brockovich'') and directed by the ever astute Curtis Hanson (``Wonder Boys,'' ``8 Mile''). ``Shoes'' digs deep into sibling conflict, even though these total opposites need each other - and hate that they do - as only sisters can.

Diaz, who's not in her co-star's world-class league, gives one of her best dramatic performances here. Never one to shy away from unpleasant behavior (check out the little-seen ``Very Bad Things''), Diaz takes Maggie to awful places without ever squelching empathy for the screwed-up girl-woman. Collette modulates Rose's tentative blossoming as impressively as she does her figure. As she did in her breakthrough film ``Muriel's Wedding,'' the Australian actress packed on pounds for this job - then, remarkably, lost them as the shoot progressed.

Collette's efforts are especially well-showcased in the film's second half, as the temporarily Maggie-free Rose finds love with a patient law colleague (a very good Mark Feuerstein), although she does make the unfortunate decision to trade in torts for a whimsical dog-walking gig.

Part two is also where Shirley MacLaine comes in. She's the grandmother, Ella, the sisters didn't know they still had. Maggie heads to Florida to mooch off the old lady. But Ella and the denizens of her retirement community conspire to teach the shiftless tease some respect - for herself as much as for anyone else.

MacLaine, too, gives a nicely controlled performance. Ella has tamped down a lot of guilt and angst for decades, and that's encouraged the actress to dial back her scene-stealing mannerisms this go-round.

Still, the Florida sequences feel bogged down by the wisdom of experience and a bad case of ``seniors-say-the-darnedest-things'' cutes. It inevitability overpowers spontaneity, too. Will Maggie mature enough for Rose to forgive her? Will the family demons allow them and Ella to form a more perfect unit? The answers aren't entirely predictable. But they seem to be part of a different, more calculatingly gentle movie than the bracing one we started with.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

IN HER SHOES - Three stars

(PG-13: sex, language, substance abuse)

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Feuerstein.

Director: Curtis Hanson.

Running time: 2 hr. 10 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Smarter-than-average chick flick about two totally opposite sisters' trials and rivalries takes conventional, reassuring turns toward the end.

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In ``Shoes,'' Cameron Diaz plays a party girl who clashes with her responsible sister, played by Toni Collette.