TABLES TURNED IN FRENCH FARCE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Francis Veber, perhaps the most successful and least respected Gallic filmmaker of his generation, finally achieves a kind of auteurist purity with his latest farce, ``The Dinner Game.''

Unusually acclaimed by the critics in France (where, more typically for a Veber film, it was a huge popular hit), the movie distills the director's characteristic odd couple formula to its amusing essence. Most of the hits Veber has written or directed, as well as their American remakes - ``La Cage aux Folles,'' ``Le Fugitifs'' and ``Father's Day'' are a few - have been Abbott and Costello updates, in which an obvious loser and a self-styled smart guy are mutually made fools of.

``Dinner Game,'' based on a long-running Parisian stage play that Veber also wrote, is all that and not an extraneous note more. And it's as well-timed and funny as a modern-day drawing room comedy can conceivably be.

The wonderfully cruel notion at the heart of the story involves a special idiot's dinner that smug Paris yuppies stage at regular intervals. Each of these guys is supposed to find an incredibly pathetic guest to bring along for his fellow hosts' entertainment; the dumbest, most boring entry wins the game. Of course, the ``guests'' are not to know they're there solely to be belittled.

Pierre (Thierry Lhermitte), a successful publisher, figures he's found paydirt in the person of Francois (Jacques Villeret), a tubby, divorced Finance Ministry accountant whose passion in life is building matchstick models of French monuments. Pierre befriends the schlub and invites him for a predinner drink at his posh apartment. He's so confident that he'll win that evening's game that even his beautiful wife, Christine (Alexandra Vandernoot), storms out in the face of Pierre's vicious self-satisfaction.

Unfortunately, Pierre wrenched his back on the golf course earlier in the day. By the time Francois arrives, Pierre is in enough pain to make attending the dinner next to impossible. Of course, Francois wants to comfort and help his new friend. Just as predictably, Pierre will be lucky to make it through the night alive because he was eminently right: Francois is a spectacularly inept individual. With the best of intentions and almost systematic precision, he all but destroys Pierre's health, marriage, financial security and overweening ego.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Keeping the main action almost entirely confined to a few rooms, Veber exhibits a mastery of cinematic space, pacing and escalating comic catastrophe you might think beyond the grasp of a mere joke-writer. ``Dinner Game's'' scope and ideas may be limited, but they're judiciously presented and satisfyingly realized. Though a mere 80 minutes long, the film never feels rushed or cramped.

The performances are, of course, all-important here. Lhermitte's sophisticated, barely controlled contempt melds gracefully with Villeret's eager doofishness, and as roles inevitably reverse through the trying evening, each actor reveals facets of his character that, considering they're just comic constructs, humanize them to a refreshing extent. Supporting players are uniformly excellent, too, especially Daniel Prevost as Francois' soccer-obsessed, congenitally suspicious colleague.

``The Dinner Game'' is hardly complex, just slightly sophisticated and not exactly brimming with surprises. Yet its simple pleasures are so perfectly arrayed, it offers all the satisfaction of a good, hearty meal.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Dinner Game'' (PG-13; language).

The stars: Jacques Villeret, Thierry Lhermitte, Francis Huster, Daniel Prevost, Alexandra Vandernoot.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Francis Veber, based on his stage play. Produced by Alain Poire. Released by Lions Gate Films.

Running time: One hour, 20 minutes.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Colorado, Pasadena; Monica, Santa Monica; Westside Pavilion, West L.A.

Our rating: Three stars.

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Photo

Photo: Humdrum accountant Francois (Jacques Villert, left) is befriended by mean-spirited publisher Pierre (Thierry Lhermitte) in ``The Dinner Game.''