`Mirror' Is A Matter Of Chemistry

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XXX "The Mirror Has Two Faces," with Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Lauren Bacall, Mimi Rogers. Directed by Streisand from a script by Richard LaGravenese. Bella Bottega 7, City Centre, Crossroads, Everett 9, Factoria, Grand Cinemas, Issaquah 9, Kent 6, Kirkland Parkplace, Lewis & Clark, Metro, Mountlake 9, Oak Tree, Puyallup 6, Renton Village, SeaTac North. Rated "PG-13" for language, mature subject matter. -----------------------------------------------------------------

The sexy and empty Claire Morgan (Mimi Rogers) tells her ugly duckling sister Rose (Barbra Streisand) she should try a perm. Rose refuses, stating that she had one and looked like "Shirley Temple on crack." If you remember Babs' own permed days in the '70s, you know the joke hits close to home.

Welcome to a Barbra Streisand picture: the engaging guessing game of where her own vanity ends and the movie begins. "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (based on a forgotten 1959 French drama that dealt with plastic surgery) is Streisand's thinnest and giddiest film in 15 years. It's far less ambitious than her previous directorial efforts, "Yentl" or "The Prince of Tides," yet it's just as successful.

Rose Morgan is a popular literature professor at Columbia University who lives with her still showboating mother (Lauren Bacall). Shy of most men, she's more comfortable watching the Yankees on TV.

Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) is in the mathematics department at Columbia. Dry, analytical - in short an egghead - Larkin has just ended one too many physical affairs that left him empty. He decides he needs someone he's not attracted to physically and take sex out of the relationship. Enter Rose.

The professors hit if off, both finding missing chunks of their lives. While Rose is still hopeful Larkin will break down, he is vastly improving his teaching, his career. Like a baseball player on a winning streak, he doesn't want to change anything.

As with most romantic comedies, we all know how it ends up. It's all a matter of chemistry and style. Streisand is a boat that casts a large wake and she needs someone strong enough to put balance in her pictures. She has found a formidable partner in Bridges and together they light up the screen.

Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese ("The Fisher King") gives us plenty of moments to see Rose and Larkin falling in love without a single touch. She teaches him to loosen up in class, he notices and lovingly comments on her peculiar habits - from the way she eats salad to her frumpy clothes.

As the egghead, Bridges is essentially in the role most associated with his brother, Beau (as in "The Fabulous Baker Boys"), though Jeff outdoes Beau with his flat tones, one-track thinking and comic timing. He looks sensational to boot.

Streisand doesn't give much to her costars, yet Mimi Rogers, George Seagal and especially Pierce Brosnan do very well with their little morsels. As with some Woody Allen films, this is one of those Streisand movies that may test the patience of nonfans. She prunes and questions her looks throughout the entire movie and has one of those fabulous 45-second (screen time) makeovers that makes her into super-gorgeous Barbra. But still, there is much to recommend her newest work.

Last year, "Sabrina," was the fancy-looking romantic comedy of the season. The trouble was the two stars had very little chemistry. Here, in a movie ironically about the lack of physical chemistry, we finally have a screen couple to love.