Lake Placid

As giant-man-eating-crocodiles-in-Maine movies go, "Lake Placid" isn't half-bad.

To tell you the truth, this tongue-in-cheek horror film is something of a surprise. Despite the ads selling it as a jolt-fest in the tradition of "Anaconda," the movie is almost more comedic than anything else, which seems to indicate that it's either late on the "hip-funny-scary" trend started by the "Scream" movies or intended to spearhead a new series of parodies of other recent horror movies like "Anaconda."

One thing it's not is great filmmaking. For one thing, the movie isn't nearly as scary as it should be. And the fact that even the cast members seem to be aware of the film's farfetched premise and its inherent cheesiness diminishes the effect of the material.

But "Lake Placid" does have its share of inspired moments, such as screenwriter/co-producer David E. Kelley's constant skewering of his own television series "Ally McBeal," as well as some odd but appropriate casting choices.

Bridget Fonda stars as Kelly Scott, a nature-phobic New York paleontologist brought in by Maine police officials to help investigate the death of a deputy in the peaceful Black Lake — or to be more specific, to find out exactly what it was that gnawed the poor man in half.

Kelly believes the killer may be a huge crocodile, though Sheriff Hank Keogh (Brendan Gleeson, from "The General") and game warden Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) remain skeptical — at least until they witness the beast with their own eyes.

If that isn't bad enough, the undermanned and outmatched hunters also have to contend with Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt), an eccentric mythology professor who wants them to spare the elusive creature's life.

Surprisingly, Kelly and director Steve Miner ("Halloween: H20") spend most of their time trying to mine laughs rather than scares, though admittedly there are at least a few of those as well. And for an 80-minute film, "Lake Placid" starts so slowly that the wrap-up seems rushed and less effective.

The performances are a similarly mixed bag. Despite Kelley's best efforts to flesh out Fonda and Pullman's characters, they're hopelessly bland and even somewhat unsympathetic. Meanwhile, supporting players Platt, Gleeson and Betty White, playing a recluse who may know more than she's letting on, get the film's best lines and biggest laughs.

"Lake Placid" is rated R for violent creature attacks, gunplay and explosions, a surprising amount of profanity, gruesomely gory special effects and some crude one-liners (including use of vulgar sexual slang).