‘Cats And Dogs’ Are Just So Cute Together

Consider the opposite of love at first sight.

Let’s say you meet somebody, are singularly unattracted - except maybe you’re impressed that this other person seems to be interested in you - and remain that way for a couple of (for want of a better word) dates.

Slowly, though, your attitude changes. So much so that, one day, you look across the (choose your own word here) and see this person as if for the first time. And you wonder: What was I thinking? This person is… well, something special.

Hey, it happens. And it is the basis, so to speak, of the new movie “The Truth About Cats and Dogs.”

Actually, this tight little romantic comedy is a little more complex. It’s more of a cross between “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “The Ugly Duckling.”

Except the duckling, played by comedian Janeane Garofalo, is far from ugly - especially, this movie wants you to believe, when she is contrasted to Uma Thurman.

Garofalo is Abby, a veterinarian who works an afternoon radio call-in show. Sensitive, knowing, smart and funny, Abby is self-conscious in real life. She’s a 5-foot-1-inch wit in a world of 6-foot blondes.

Which is what Noelle (Thurman) is. So after meeting cute - cute is a word that will be used a lot in this review - Abby and Noelle become friends. And when a caller with a cute English accent named Brian (Ben Chaplin) decides he wants to meet the radio vet, Abby convinces Noelle to take her place.

This is the “Cyrano” part. Brian sees Noelle, but he hears Abby over the phone and on the radio. The women struggle to keep him from finding them out.

As I said: cute.

Whatever, the rest is pretty predictable. Brian becomes smitten with Noelle the statuesque beauty but falls in love with Abby the intelligent voice. One implausible situation after another occurs before the truth is revealed and true love, after a slight detour, runs its course.

In the wrong hands, this could have been a disaster. Fortunately, director Michael Lehman knows what to do. His staging of two of the safe-sexiest scene ever filmed are both erotic and comic - no small feat.

Further, Lehman takes his time developing character, which Garofalo, Thurman and Chaplin have in abundance. And he gives his actors ample opportunity to deliver dialogue that ranges from mildly funny to merely hilarious.

You decide which category this line falls in: Comparing her appearance to that of Noelle’s, Abby says that men seldom pay any attention to her. As for Noelle, she says, “You puke and they line up to hold your hair back.”

And Lehman’s casting is impeccable. Thurman, an offbeat beauty, has just the kind of look that could strike a man speechless. Yet Garofalo, who has lost the excess weight that she carried on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” has a curious kind of beauty all her own (her eyes truly are something to behold).

The idea that Brian could actually love Abby, then, is no stretch - even if, overall, “The Truth About Cats and Dogs” is pure wish-fulfillment. It’s fantasy, but it’s a well-acted, well-conceived fantasy.

If you allow the movie to work on you, it might lead to like at first sight. Which would be kind of cute.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS” Location: East Sprague, Newport and Showboat cinemas. Credits: Directed by Michael Lehman; starring Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin and Jamie Foxx Running time: 1:37 Rating: PG-13