VIDEO : ROWLANDS KEEPS `HOPE' AFLOAT.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Entertainment

``Hope Floats'' starts off when Birdee Pruitt (Sandra Bullock) goes on a Rikki Lake-style talk show in Chicago, thinking she is going get a makeover but instead is surprised by her best friend and husband who tell her, along with a national audience, that they are having an affair and want to be together. They have picked the talk show, they say, because they want Birdee to understand.

It's a nice take on America's growing obsession with doing its dirty laundry in public, while at the same time showing how gutless this whole business is - that people are willing to ruin or embarrass somebody in front of millions but can't confront them in person.

After a promising beginning, ``Hope Floats'' becomes one of those heartwarming and life-affirming films that never sinks to the level of total schmaltz but never has enough edge to make it compelling. After her humiliation, Birdee takes her daughter, Bernice (Mae Whitman), and returns home to Smithville, Texas, to live with her mother, Ramona (Gena Rowlands), an earthy eccentric who lives in a rambling Victorian-style house and makes her living stuffing dead animals and turning them into decorations, like ``scaredy cats'' - a pair of terrified-looking felines.

The rest of the film revolves around how Birdee, the three-time Queen of Corn in Smithville, adjusts to her new old life as she tries to cope with her daughter, who blames Mom, not Dad, for the breakup. Of course, everybody in Smithville has witnessed her public disgrace. ``Why did you go on that show in the first place?'' Ramona asks. ``Because I wanted a free makeover,'' Birdee says. ``Well, you got one.''

Having no real skills, she tries to get a job but runs into an old classmate, Dot, who Birdee had dumped on back in high school. (There are others in town who are enjoying Birdee's fall.) ``I don't see a listing here for prom queen,'' Dot says, but finally helps Birdee land a job in a photo developing lab, where the owner asks her to make extra prints of any ``interesting'' snapshots. There is, of course, an old flame hovering, Justin (Harry Connick Jr.), who's a bit too perfect.

Though it has some nice touches, the film is predictable. What helps keeps ``Hope'' floating, though, is Rowlands, who seems to making a living lately at playing off-center types. But we shouldn't forget that Rowlands has been one of our best actresses for 30 years.

Her most memorable roles were in the films that she made with her late husband, actor-director John Cassavetes. The couple made six films together between 1968 and 1984 - ``Faces'' (1968), ``Minnie and Moskowitz'' (1971), ``A Woman Under the Influence'' (1974), ``Opening Night'' (1979), ``Gloria'' 1980 and ``Love Streams'' (1984).

Cassavetes, who died in 1989, made actor-friendly films, often getting extraordinary performances as a result. Rowlands received two Academy Award nominations (``A Woman Under the Influence'' and ``Gloria'').

In ``Gloria,'' Rowlands plays a tough, street-wise gangster's woman who is suddenly forced on the run with a young kid when a hit on her neighbor goes awry. The chain-smoking Gloria tries to avoid getting killed while saddled with a kid she doesn't want but is unable to give up. It's a delightful performance as Rowlands pulls out all the stops. ``Gloria'' is being remade with Sharon Stone taking on the title role. In ``A woman Under the Influence,'' Rowlands plays a housewife cracking under the weight of domestic bliss. At times, her mood swings are terrifying as she struggles to hold her marriage together.

In ``Opening Night'' she plays a similar character, this time an alcoholic with the controlled panic of a person who desperately needs a drink.

A unique voice in American cinema, Cassavetes' first film, ``Shadows'' (1959), was shot in 16mm on a low budget. Made outside the studio system, ``Shadows'' arrived at the same time as the French New Wave and really was the forerunner to the independent film movement of today. His films were about people and relationships, usually talky, sometimes disjointed but often compelling. Ironically, Cassavetes starred in a number of studio films such as ``Rosemary's Baby,'' ``The Dirty Dozen'' and the ``The Fury'' to finance his own movies.

The director often took his characters to extremes to find his truth. That's what's missing in ``Hope Floats.'' So if you're looking for an unchallenging, pleasant diversion, float through ``Hope.'' But if you want something weightier, check out Rowlands' work with Cassavetes.

Rowlands, by the way, will be honored next month at the Stockholm Film Festival in Sweden. She'll receive a special achievement award, and seven of her films will be shown.

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Photo

Photo: Sandra Bullock is a former beauty queen who returns home to live with her mother (Gena Rowlands) in ``Hope Floats.''