Web posted on: Thursday, July 23, 1998 3:30:45 PM

From Reviewer Paul Tatara

(CNN) -- I may have ended up being raised in the South, but I was born in Cleveland (Go Browns) to a working class Polish/Catholic lineage that often unashamedly wallowed in its kielbasa, sauerkraut, and arguing at the dinner table. I feel safe in saying, then, that I possess some first-hand knowledge of the basic environment that writer/director Theresa Connelly is exploring in her uneven debut feature, "Polish Wedding."

The movie stars Gabriel Byrne as Bolek, the bakery worker Papa; Lena Olin as Jadzia, the hotsy-totsy Mama; and personal favorite Claire Danes as Chala, their beautiful, coming-of-age daughter. The actors (including the large supporting cast) are all just swell.

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But there's a key element to all of this that seems decidedly phony.

The sets are beaten up to scraggly perfection, and you can practically smell the pierogies and fried onions in the air. However, Connelly's dialogue relies on a level of self-examination that isn't often heard coming from people who like to bake bread and shout at each other all day long.

Families like this get around to revelations eventually (everybody does, I suppose), but they don't all drag themselves home late at night, rub their aching feet, and start poetically picking apart their dreams, and desires. Out loud, yet. The movie is in dire need of more scenes featuring people who mostly don't know what the hell they're talking about.

And Polish ladies who don't look like Lena Olin, if we're trying to be realistic. Olin is one of those Marlene Dietrich-type actresses who will forever ooze sexuality from her pores, no matter how old she gets. Those pores are in perfect working order, judging from the aura of hot-bloodedness she radiates in "Polish Wedding."

The movie is more or less about the various sexual trials and infidelities of this Michigan-based clan, with Olin and Danes serving up major doses of bawdy, bad-girl desire. It's a case of "like mother, like daughter," with Byrne trying to maintain his sanity in the midst of the carnal hurricane that's surrounding him.

Bolek trudges home from work throughout the movie, smoking cigarettes and bemoaning his fate. That fate includes long hours of sitting at the front window, waiting late into the night for his wife (whom he rightfully suspects is cheating on him) to return.

He's so concerned, he doesn't realize that his beloved Chala, who's just been named the lead virgin at the church's yearly pageant, is not a virgin at all. She's even got a bun in the oven (courtesy of a local cop played by Adam Trese), and it's not the kind of bun Bolek can unload at the bakery.

There's a sensual quality here that you seldom see in American movies -- something about it seems very Italian, oddly enough -- but the over-ripeness starts to get a little absurd after a while. Olin's character is so hot-to-trot she actually wriggles around suggestively in front of the family at the breakfast table. She's also pretty darn huggy-kissy with her muscular son, especially when he's working outside with his shirt off.

The extended family packs the house to the rafters, giving everything an over-busy reality that serves the story well. It's just a shame that this minutely detailed environment doesn't generate more believable interaction between the characters, the kind that doesn't repeatedly club you over the head with the musky ethnicity of it all.

Though "Polish Wedding"'s story is a far more dramatic one, the movie that it feels most like is "Moonstruck." That latter title happens to be one of my all-time favorite comedies, the main reason being the absurdity of Patrick Shanley's dialogue. The characters in "Moonstruck" are stereotypes who don't realize it. They assume everybody in the world is just as pasta-stuffed and hot-blooded as they are; their operatic banter works because we know that they're not thinking clearly.

Connelly's characters, on the other hand, wake up every morning wearing their Polish/Catholic background as if it's a Crips bandanna. A little more understatement, or more comedy concerning the overstatement that's there, would have helped immensely.

"Polish Wedding" may be objectionable to some parents due to Danes' rather reckless character. She's a high school dropout who smokes, drinks, and has sex in an open field with a guy she barely even knows. Your kids might appreciate it, but for all the wrong reasons. Some bad language. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes.