Dennis Farina

The Scene: Tuesday's premiere of Universal's "Liar, Liar" at the Universal Amphitheatre. Not since "King Kong" has a film belonged to one actor the way this one belongs to Jim Carrey. "I'm a small, squeaky wheel on a Jim Carrey vehicle propelling him to further stardom," said co-star Jennifer Tilly. "After a couple days on the set, I realized my job was to merely be reactive. I ran through my repertoire of bemused expressions."

The Scene: Monday's benefit premiere of Universal and the Bubble Factory's "That Old Feeling" at the Cineplex Odeon. It's Bette Midler's movie and the Divine Miss M was joyful. "It's a beautiful night," she said. "I get driven around in a car. I got a new outfit. I come and everyone is looking happy. I feel like I got the keys to the kingdom."

The Scene: The campaign trail ended at Cineplex Odeon Universal Studios Theater on Thursday night as celebrities, fans and VIPs gathered for the premiere of Mike Nichols' "Primary Colors," adapted from the anonymously written novel of political and sexual high and low jinks during a presidential primary. (Political columnist Joe Klein has long since admitted to writing the novel, but the credits cite the book by Anonymous.) The film stars John Travolta as the tubby Southern Gov. Bill . . .

There's a new cop in town. He is rough on women, tougher on his men and a regular Frankenstein when it comes to the crooks. He wears a dark hat, pulled down slightly to cover his sinister eyes, a dark suit, and a dark tie, loose at the neck. His mustache shades his emotions so that a smile looks like a snarl. His gun smells of sulfur from too much action. The name is Lt. Mike Torello, the beat is the Chicago street in the 1960s and the show is "Crime Story," (NBC, Fridays, 10-11 p.m.).

"Big Trouble" has been in nothing but big trouble. Not for what it is but for a situation it inadvertently found itself enmeshed in that it's now trying to escape. "Big Trouble" is a pleasant diversion, a lightly amusing criminal comedy with a plot so complicated even the people in it can't quite believe what's happening. It's based on a novel by Dave Barry, one of America's truly funny columnists, and it's directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, who did "Get Shorty" and "Men in Black."

Don't go to "The Mod Squad" expecting a replication of the TV series that ran from 1968 to 1973, for director Scott Silver and his co-writers have delivered something better than nostalgia. Using the series premise, which takes three young people in trouble with the law and gives them the chance to straighten themselves out by becoming undercover cops, Silver creates a portrait of three engaging individuals trying to get their lives together.

Tell me if I'm in foul trouble, but isn't there something oxymoronic about a movie that posits Whoopi Goldberg as coach of the New York Knicks and then goes on to trumpet the values of courage, integrity and duty to the fans? Just asking.

A sense of the familiar hangs over "Snatch," which, for a picture as slick, quick and light-fingered as this one, is definitely an odd thing to remark on. But for those with fond memories of writer-director Guy Ritchie's kinetic debut, "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels," "Snatch" is more than recognizable.

It's easy to see why Edward Burns' "Sidewalks of New York" was postponed from its September opening date. In one of the first scenes, you can see the late World Trade Center, looming majestically, directly over Burns' right shoulder. Which wouldn't be so bad. But it's giving the better performance. "Sidewalks," far less whimsical than its title suggests, co-opts everything in its technique and tone--and nothing in its laugh quotient--from Woody Allen. A more backhanded homage is hard to imagine.

Hollywood has been doing business with Elmore Leonard for decades, and the novelist has quite a store of amusing stories about the unmitigated fiascoes the studios have turned his novels into. Like the time Richard Widmark came up to him on the set of "The Moonshine War" and said, "What's it like to hear your lines all fouled up?" Only he didn't exactly say "fouled." Those tales, however, have begun to show their age.