Here on Earth

This is the stuff teen dreams are made of. Samantha (Leelee Sobieski) is a nature-loving small-town girl and Kelley (Chris Klein) is a money-loving prep-school boy. The two meet when Kelley and his button-down pals wander into a local diner. Samantha's long-time boyfriend doesn't take kindly to the stranger and challenges him to a race -- which ends in a tie when they smash their cars into the diner. A judge sentences both boys to help rebuild the eatery, and Kelley has to stay in town for the summer. It's hot, Kelley takes his shirt off a lot, and that's all Samantha needs to fall in love.

The two do everything young lovers are supposed to: recite poetry to each other, chase each other through the woods, gaze longingly into each other's eyes. Unfortunately, no matter how many times director Mark Piznarski makes the couple kiss (in the rain, in a greenhouse, on a baseball diamond), nothing clicks. Sobieski, talented beyond her years, makes Samantha bright, loving, and radiant, even after she's stricken with terminal cancer. God knows what she sees in Kelley, who, thanks to Klein and his vapid gaze à la Keanu Reeves, is a stiff -- too bad he's not the one who's dying. At the Seekonk Route 6, Starcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.
-- Jumana Farouky