Faithful

Cher returns to the screen after a five-year hiatus (her most recent film was "Mermaids" in 1990), though it should be noted that "Faithful" has been on the shelf for two years because the distribution company went bankrupt.

Was it worth the wait?

Perhaps, if you're a die-hard Cher fan. She's good, and her co-stars Chazz Palminteri (who also wrote the script, adapting his own play) and Ryan O'Neal both deliver fine performances. But it is, in general, bombastic theatrical acting, and as a movie, "Faithful" is pretty static, bound by a script that doesn't have anything new to say on a subject that is merely a cinematic retread.

Cher is a rich, childless homemaker, whose husband (O'Neal) has been cheating on her for years. Palminteri is a hit man, apparently hired by O'Neal to bump her off. Not that Cher has been a bad wife, you understand - but this way, O'Neal gets the business (which is actually Cher's inheritance) and a trophy wife (his young bimbo "assistant" at work).

So, on Cher and O'Neal's 20th anniversary, Palminteri breaks into their home, ties Cher to a chair and waits for a phone signal from O'Neal before he pulls the trigger.

And, of course, while they're waiting, Palminteri and Cher strike up a conversation, which takes them in various emotional directions - especially as they talk about how people are "faithful" or "unfaithful" to each other.

Director Paul Mazursky, whose uneven track record includes the hilarious "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" as well as last year's unfunny straight-to-video "The Pickle," tries to open up the material by including scenes that are filmed outdoors and at O'Neal's workplace, and by having Pal-minteri carry on occasional phone conversations with his psychiatrist (played by Mazursky).

And Palminteri does have an ear for good comedic dialogue. When he calls his psychiatrist for the first time, Cher blurts out, "You're in therapy?" When Mazursky puts Pal-minteri on hold to answer call-waiting, Palminteri shouts, "I hate it - you pay $5 a month to get interrupted!" And Cher protests that "You don't have to do anything but die and pay taxes," Palminteri replies, "I don't pay taxes."

But it's still essentially a predictable, hit-man-and-his-victim, two-character play most of the way, and as such it's pretty stagy.

"Faithful" is rated R for some violence and a steady stream of profanity and vulgarity.