Entertainment

Trying to mend fences leads up a blind alley

STANLEY Tucci, who showed once again he is one of our finest character actors in “Julie & Julia,” has also directed small, good movies like “Big Night” and “Joe Gould’s Secret.” His latest, the pretentious serio-comedy “Blind Date,” is, unfortunately, not among them.

A remake of a film by murdered Dutch director Theo van Gogh, it fails to captivate despite — or perhaps because of — the frantic acting efforts of Tucci and the normally reliable Patricia Clarkson.

They play an estranged married couple, shaken by a terrible tragedy, who try to rekindle the spark through a series of “blind dates” in which they role-play various characters.

These vignettes are prefaced by personal ads like “Serious Reporter Seeks Aggressive Woman.” In another episode, Tucci mimes a slapstick magician.

Set in a bar that echoes the far superior “Big Night,” this labored two-hander plays more like an acting exercise than an actual movie.

Running time: 80 minutes. Not rated (profanity). At Cinema Village, 12th Street, east of Fifth Avenue.