O’Donnell Skirts Road To Ruin By Submitting To Winning Smile

When Drew Barrymore smiles her trademark take-me smile at Chris O’Donnell in the teens-on-the-lam romance “Mad Love” (see capsule review), you know he’s a goner.

Family, school, job, responsibility, the notion of a future - all of it becomes just so much white noise to O’Donnell’s hormone-hungry and emotionally vulnerable character.

And when he does take off, jettisoning his life for the promise of wild escapades of the nocturnal kind (if you catch my drift), he joins a long line of like-minded losers, from Don Jose in “Carmen” to Ned Racine in “Body Heat.”

Since he has a powerful agent, of course, O’Donnell the actor doesn’t allow O’Donnell the character to end up ruined or, worse, a murderer. And so in that respect, at least, “Mad Love” has nothing in common with any of the great femme-fatale film noir classics of the 1940s and ‘50s.

Still, many of O’Donnell’s predecessors experience some combination of either ruin or untimely death - or both. They include:

“The Blue Angel” (1930) - Emil Jannings is an upright professor who gives up everything, especially his dignity, for the night-club cutie portrayed by Marlene Dietrich.

“Black Widow” (1987) - Theresa Russell, who in more than a dozen films has yet to prove she can act, portrays a woman who woos rich men only to kill them. Debra Winger is the emotionally insecure federal agent who falls under her spell.

“Body Heat” (1981) - Lawrence Kasdan’s first film has libidinous Kathleen Turner playing William Hurt for a prime chump. “You’re not very bright, are you?” Turner purrs. “I like that in a man.”

“Double Indemnity” (1944) - Fred MacMurray is the insurance agent lured into murder by praying-mantis-cum-wife Barbara Stanwyck. Distrust is the very soul of this notable film noir.

“The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946 and 1981) - Both tell the same noir tale, of a drifter who gets involved with the frustrated-and-very-sexy wife of a man with no future. The 1946 version, featuring John Garfield and Lana Turner, crackles with tension, while the latter version, with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, displays full well why some men might actually kill to get what they would consider ownership of a woman.

“Out of the Past” (1947) - Jane Greer is the spider woman, and Robert Mitchum - believe it or not - is the chump in this noir classic (just as hard to believe is the fact that raven-haired Rhonda Fleming is the innocent who attempts to steer Mitchum straight).

Bad Boys

**-1/2

There’s nothing new here that we haven’t seen a dozen times or more: Two cops, feuding friends, kill off half a city while trying to foil the plan of a drug kingpin. Even the city (Miami) is a familiar setting, and the bad guy is distinctly Euro-trash (French star Tcheky Karyo) - a cliche that goes all the way back to “French Connection.” Two things, however, seem new. The MTV-type quick editing, which can be done without, and the presence of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which cannot. These guys make what happens around them seem like fun, even a second-rate script such as this one. Rated R.

Mad Love

**

Drew Barrymore is surprisingly good in this teenage romance between an All-American highschooler (Chris O’Donnell) and the psychologically troubled girl (Barrymore) he falls in love with. When the families tear them apart, they hit the road. Movie fans will understand when I say that what begins as “Reality Bites” evolves into “They Live By Night” but ends up being an overwrought version of “Baby It’s You.” Which is to say that while there’s an emotional undertow here, the film never really reaches high tide. The Seattle scenery is nice, though. Rated PG-13. , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEW TO VIEW Now available: “Bad Boys” (Columbia TriStar), “Gordy” (Touchstone), “Mad Love” (Touchstone), “My Family” (New Line), “Summer Slam ‘95” (WWF). Available Tuesday: “Crimson Tide” (Buena Vista), “Dolores Claiborne” (Columbia TriStar), “Fall Time” (TBA), “Free Willy 2” (TBA).