MOVIES . . . SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

Well, yes, this is a comedy about adultery and its aftershocks. ButTIME's Richard Schickelsays it's much more than that. The funny, good-natured script, by Callie Khouri ("Thelma and Louise"), is another empowerment play, but deeper and more intricately subversive in its assault on American patriarchy. Director Lasse Hallstrom ("My Life as a Dog") is an unobtrusive craftsman who lets his actors breathe in an easy, unforced way. And Gena Rowlands is simply great in a scene where she breaks the silence of the years in a richly emotional encounter with her husband. "Her performance," says Shickel, "is emblematic of a movie that, a few sideslips into familiar sentiment aside, never lets its political correctness interfere with its delight in human incorrectness."