Starring Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan

When aimless barge worker Joe Taylor (Ewan McGregor) drags a dead woman out of the river one day, he’s so nonplussed by it you’d think it was an everyday occurrence. But maybe, just maybe, there’s another reason for his lack of interest. Writer-director David Mackenzie’s moody, intensely introspective character drama, set in the ’50s, doesn’t get caught up in the usual cat-and-mouse thriller clichés; he’s much more interested in exploring the dynamics (sexual included) of human behavior and letting his observations be dissected by his audience. Joe is Mackenzie’s special object of fascination, perhaps because he lives a hedonistic life without hint of a conscience.

While Joe doesn’t say much, the smoldering, probing looks he casts his sexually dissatisfied barge owner, Ella (the always-resourceful Tilda Swinton), speaks volumes about his prowess with women. He can be tender and caring one moment, then toss all manner of food over a girlfriend’s body as an act of domination and cruelty. Young Adam (I still don’t get the title) won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s nonetheless an unusual, involving portrait (crisply shot by Giles Nuttgens) of a man on the run – mostly from himself. Swinton and Mullan (who wrote and directed the outstanding The Magdalene Sisters) are excellent as the increasingly estranged barge owners, but it is McGregor who keeps us mesmerized, even when he’s not speaking, just smoking or running his eyes up someone’s body. It’s a damn shame that so much attention has been paid to the scene where he briefly flashes his penis while getting out of bed. (Ah, America’s double standard for male sexuality in movies!) “I shed my old skin and marched into the fog,” Joe tells his girlfriend at one point. Exactly what I would have done, Joe. Hiding out always demands so much less responsibility. (Hillcrest Cinemas)

**1/2

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore, Parker Posey

My wish for the featherweight Laws of Attraction? That it grosses $100 million and has studio executives tripping over themselves to bring more smart, polished, well-scrubbed romantic comedies to the screen. But unless my crystal ball is way, way off, that isn’t going to happen. (Intolerable Cruelty certainly didn’t advance the genre’s cause, though audiences warmed to Wayne Wang’s predictable but sweet Maid in Manhattan.) Despite having the right screwball spirit, an appealing cast and a good amount of witty dialogue, the film is only a cut above average. It just doesn’t have enough of the twinkle and shine of its predecessors (Adam’s Rib, I was a Male War Bride, Lover Come Back).

In Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling’s script (he wrote the snappy Steel Magnolias and Soapdish, she the awful Three to Tango), high-profile, never-lost-a-case New York divorce attorney Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore) finds herself up against slightly disheveled divorce attorney Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan), who has never lost a case either. Walking into the courtroom and spying Daniel napping, Audrey mutters to her client, “Good news: opposing counsel is insane.”

He may look a bit frayed around the edges (a character trait that seems to come and go), but Daniel is no dummy when it comes to winning million-dollar-plus settlements. While Audrey’s “too busy” to date (or so she keeps saying – she doesn’t seem to have any friends or do more than watch television), he’s grown increasingly bored with his profession and wants to settle down with a wife. Why he instantly sets his sights on her is somewhat of a mystery – yes, she’s pretty, but she’s an awfully chilly filly – but that isn’t going to stop him from vigorously pursuing her (while she inexplicably continues to resist, despite having no sex life whatsoever). One of the basic “laws of attraction,” of course, is that “opposites attract” – we know Audrey likes the attention and will eventually succumb to Daniel’s overtures – so it’s his job to wine and dine her (fortunately, she’s a cheap drunk) to show her that legal briefs don’t do the best job of warming the sheets at night.

It takes a trip to Ireland to sort out the estate (a castle, actually) belonging to immature rock star Thorne Jamison (Michael Sheen) and his fed-up dress-designer wife, Selena (Parker Posey), to give Daniel and Audrey’s slowly blooming relationship the push it needs to turn serious (yes, this is one very big “pro-marriage” movie, as was last year’s far-less-successful Down with Love). “We’re in serious danger of peace breaking out,” Daniel tells her in a nicely underplayed moment.

Director Peter Howitt (Sliding Doors, Johnny English) clearly respects the long line of romantic, slightly screwball comedies (Adam’s Rib, I Was a Male War Bride, Pillow Talk) that came down the pike well before Laws of Attraction, so his heart is in the right place for the assignment, creating in the process a few slyly amusing moments (such as when Audrey’s panicked dash through Daniels’ empty office is caught on video, frame by frame, and shown at a meeting later).

In her first all-out comic role, Moore struggles a bit with her character, which she at first plays too obviously; she chokes on some of the fast-moving dialogue as well, spoiling certain lines due to timidity or just plain inadequate projection. Thankfully, she nails the script’s fiery emotional moments and gradually gets funnier as the story progresses. Brosnan, on the other hand, has never looked better or come across as more charming (no wonder he decided to co-executive produce the film). Sheen and Parker are perfectly suited to their over-the-top roles, as is Frances Fisher as Audrey’s Botoxed-to-the-max mother (who in reality is only nine years younger than Moore, incidentally).

Though it frequently falls short and loses its fizz after little over an hour, there’s a place for bright and breezy entertainments like Laws of Attraction – they’ll just need to be better to attract a new generation of moviegoers. (Playing citywide)

In Gabriele Salvatores’ haunting, poetic I’m Not Scared (***1/2), a 10-year-old boy living in a poor southern Italian village makes a frightening discovery while playing outside one day: an ashen-faced boy, probably his age, is being held captive in an underground pit. Slowly, Michael (wonderful newcomer Giuseppe Cristiano) pieces together the story of his victim’s kidnapping – and unfortunately it involves his parents. Niccolo Ammaniti and Francesca Marciano’s script peaks early, but it is Cristiano and cinematographer Italo Petriccione who make I’m Not Scared a memorable experience. (Hillcrest Cinemas)

Mortal Kombat star-turned-director Robin Shou’s Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen (***) is an enjoyable look at the “unsung heroes” of Hong Kong action films: the men and women who fall, roll, crash and sometimes burn for a living. The best parts of Shou’s blend of documentary and fiction are the play-by-play of several risky stunts (“I just ate tofu – I hope I don’t throw up,” says one guy), as well as Shou’s revealing interviews with key players in the game, for whom “applause is more important than money.” Less successful is his distracting (and confusing) decision to insert his “original martial arts” action film, Lost Time, into the proceedings. The better to show off his killer abs, I presume. (Ken Cinema, one week only, April 30-May 6)

Kyle Counts is the film critic for the Gay & Lesbian Times