BY LARRY CARROLL | There is no genre of film with a greater failure-to-success ratio than that of the romantic comedy. Every year moviegoers enjoy a good number of dramas, sci-fi, teen movies, action-adventure, biographical films and straight-out comedies. But virtually every romantic comedy turns out to be a failure, ending up neither worthy of our hearts nor our bellies. Horror movies, I suppose, are closest in that an above-average one only seems to come along every three years or so. But for every horror film, mainstream Hollywood churns out ten romantic comedies that feature actors with no chemistry behaving like no one you would ever meet in real life.

Two questions which will be answered by the end of any one of these films: "Will we see a reflection of ourselves in these characters?" and "When they get together at the end (c'mon, it's a given), will we care?" The two answers inevitably go hand in hand - why would we ever invest ourselves in people who speak and act in a manner completely foreign to us?

John Cusack is the rarest of actors - someone who has appeared in not one, not two, but three successful romantic comedies over the course of his acting career. Rob Reiner's 1985 film "The Sure Thing" served as the launch pad for Cusack as a leading man. Often overlooked, this gem still holds up as a great love story between two interesting people, and it finds that perfect balance of humor and romance that real life can create at its most magical moments. Cusack then upped the ante by portraying the consummate everyman, Lloyd Dobler, in "Say Anything", which many consider to be among the greatest films of the romantic comedy genre. Finally, after more than a decade of dilating his career playing politicians, grifters, puppeteers, and even action heroes, Cusack returned in 2000 with Stephen Frears' "High Fidelity", a film which made the top ten lists of many critics that year. With this holy trilogy of romantic comedies under his belt, Cusack had firmly established himself as the male Meg Ryan. When I heard Cusack was going to draw from the well again with "Serendipity", my curiosity was peaked based on his past work, but I had to wonder - would this be his "Sleepless in Seattle", or would I have to sit through another "You've Got Mail"?

The answer lies somewhere in between. Cusack is Jonathan Trager, a television producer in New York during the dreaded Christmas shopping season. Reaching for a pair of gloves at a department store, they are intercepted by the hand of Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale, last seen running away from exploding things in "Pearl Harbor"), who wants the same item. The two end up going for a coffee together at a cafi called Serendipity, and then spend a night on the town in which they completely fall for each other. Sara is a big believer in fate, however, and she insists that a test in necessary to see if their relationship is meant to be. Pressing an elevator floor button, she tells Jonathan to do likewise on a different elevator - if the two end up on the same floor, she reasons, then they belong together.

When the two miss each other, Sara leaves the hotel and heads back to her life, while Jonathan frantically searches for the girl who he fell in love with at first sight. The meat of the film takes place a decade later, where we find the two of them living thousands of miles apart and involved with other people, yet still thinking about each other and that magical Manhattan evening.

This film, in a way, is its own worst enemy. The entire premise is based upon the magic of that one night in New York. The audience would need to be thoroughly convinced that the evening was the most romantic anyone could ever imagine, and with that kind of pressure, how could it possibly succeed? Jonathan and Sara's date is decent, their repartee is mildly witty, and of course they're both attractive people, but all they really do is have a cup o' Joe and go ice skating - hardly the type of date you'd still be hung up on ten years later. For an example of a great first date, perhaps the film's creators should have taken a look at "Before Sunrise" or even "Badlands", movies which make you believe that once the eyes of their lovers met for that first time, there was no one else in the world.

Then we get the coincidences. Everyone wants to believe in the possibility that some higher power has predestined us to meet another, and that as soon as we meet that person we will be filled with an overpowering, undeniable, never-ending love that will be instantly returned by said object of desire. Perhaps there are coincidences - perhaps just earlier today you walked by someone at the supermarket who you will marry three years from now but just haven't met yet. But if these coincidences do occur, if something up there is indeed pulling our puppet strings, then they are magical, minor nuances of life that happen on the rarest of occasions. Unlike Jonathan Trager, you will not trip over the same dog that your future lover does, then have it turn out that she is the best friend of your fiancie's college buddy, then find her jacket in a park, all the while stumbling along without a clue. At first, the coincidences in this film are cute and whimsical - but by the time that Sara receives a five-dollar bill that she had written on and put into circulation a decade earlier, someone in my theater exclaimed, "Are you kidding me?" The absurd quantity of these events, any one of which would be a miracle if it really occurred, is jarring and serves no purpose other than to remind you that the story you're watching could never be real.

And that's a shame because at its very heart, "Serendipity" is a good movie trapped inside some poor choices. The movie can be downright charming at times, but this is due to the comedy, not the romance. Cusack works his charisma throughout the film, proving once again that he is one of the few actors who can consistently make the males in an audience understand him, while the women fall in love with him. Beckinsale is serviceable as the female lead, but doesn't bring much to the table other then a nice smile.

The supporting actors, meanwhile, are exemplary. Eugene Levy is on quite a roll these days, stealing away the best parts of this film, as he did with the "American Pie" movies, "Josie & The Pussycats" and "Down to Earth". It seems as though Levy is some sort of comedic vulture, swooping down into films just long enough to pick something up and fly away with everything - it's almost worth the price of admission just to watch the three or four scenes he acts in. Jeremy Piven, a frequent co-star of Cusack, shines as Jonathan's fast-talking best friend. Molly Shannon also does a great job with what could have been a one-joke character, playing Sara's flaky companion.

The screenplay, the first one produced from the work of Marc Klein, has some terrific parts to it. Piven's demand that a zit-faced kid give him information so that they can rebel against the "virtual plantation owners" known as Dot-Com execs is a laugh-out-loud tirade, and a similar response can be expected when Jonathan compares his girlfriends to the "Godfather" films. I also enjoyed an inspired scene that had Cusack's character reading from his own "prehumous" obituary. If only this script was as good at putting together a story as it was at creating snappy dialogue, it could have been a winner.

At the end of "Serendipity", after these two supposedly destined lovers have searched all over for each other, a conclusion finally presents itself. I wouldn't say this ending is a surprise, but it is surprising in how quickly it just pops up, takes place, and ends the film. Rather than leaving you thinking of how much in love these people are, it instead makes one wonder how long these two will stay together once they begin talking to each other on a regular basis. My money says about three months.

When the film is allowed to move along at its own pace, the acting and writing carry it a long way, making "Serendipity" an above-average genre film. Unfortunately, when you're talking about a romantic comedy, above average still isn't saying much.