In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

ever watch a very young child try and tell a joke that is beyond his , or her , sophistication ?
it 's full of stops and starts and usually , the punch line is ruined .
i felt the same way watching drowning mona .
skip a stone across water and you approximate the depth of this attempt at an ensemble comedy .
there are some slightly successful attempts at humor , but they only serve as window dressing .
there is a running gag about the town , verplanck , n .
y .
, being a test town for the then new yugo .
everyone drives a yugo , differentiating their cars with personalized license plates .
even the police chief drives one .
there is a certain sublimeness to the image of a lights and siren decked out yugo skittering its way through the town streets .
there also is a running gag about one of the characters , jeff , missing a hand and how it occurred .
it pokes gentle fun at the notion of urban legends .
it turns out the truth is more horrifying than any legend .
there are some sight gags that pop up as well , such as mona 's tombstone , which reads " demoted " , instead of devoted .
still , the core of the story maintains the flatness of a still pond .
the lynchpin of the film falls on the redundant and sporadic scenes involving mona ( midler ) .
each scene with her is the same : scream at someone , hit someone , then scream some more .
there 's no uniqueness or modulation to her or explanation for her meanness .
anyone off the street could have played the role , such as it is .
the other characters are walking cardboard cutouts .
each one is defined by one trait and no further attempt is made at deeper characterization .
there is a burly , female car mechanic , so of course , there is a forced lesbianism gag .
mona 's son , jeff ( marcus thomas ) is a simpleton , hence
you can predict his dialogue before it even plods its way from his mouth .
chief of police rash ( devito ) likes broadway musicals and loves his daughter .
there 's nothing more to him .
elle , the chief 's daughter ( campbell ) , is bland personified , a dutiful girl with no higher aspiration than to have a child and be married .
mona 's husband phil ( fichtner ) jeckle and hydes from shirking coward to reptilian letch .
bob ( affleck ) , elle 's betrothed , and business partner to jeff , is a mumbling , obvious dullard .
there is no contrast to any of the characters .
by having at least one character with some wit , or wits , to serve as counterpoint to the others , perhaps steinfeld 's attempt at satirizing a small town infested with ambitionless people might have come off better .
ostensibly a murder mystery , drowning mona gives you almost all the clues immediately , then lets you sit back and feel superior as you watch the cast of paper people fumble their way to finding the killer , who could be anyone due to mona 's loving manner with everyone on town .
even that aspect of the film fails , throwing in a convenient , ridiculous and unsatisfying wrap to things .
it 's been a while since i walked away from a movie theater in an angry mood .
what makes it all the more remarkable is that i rarely remember a comedy making me so angry for wasting my time at it 's ineptitude .
N

susan granger 's review of " osmosis jones " ( warner bros . ) if the farrelly brothers taught anatomy & physiology in school , no one would cut ever class .
this hip , live action / animation story begins as a monkey snatches a hard - boiled egg from frank , a zookeeper ( bill murray ) , who grabs it back , drops it , then gobbles up the contaminated morsel , explaining , " if it hits and ground and you pick it up within 10 seconds , you can eat it .
" like " fantastic voyage " ( 1966 ) , the pseudo - science animation then takes over when his body 's immune system contacts traffic control as an ingested virus hits the digestive system : " be on the alert for illegal organisms !
" eager to right " a stomach evacuation mistake " he once made , a cocky , clever , courageous white blood cell ( chris rock ) declares , " this is a crime scene ! " and teams up with a conscientious " phi beta capsule " 12-hour cold remedy called drixenol ( david hyde pierce ) to chase down and destroy the deadly " red death " virus ( laurence fishburne ) that 's determined to take frank down in 48 hours , beating ebola and e . coli to a medical record .
watch out for mucus mudslides ,
chaos in cerebellum hall and the detritus from booger dam ( runny nose ) , along with comic turns from molly shannon and chris elliot , plus the voices of william shatner and brandy norwood .
peter and bobby farrelly , along with writer mark hyman and animation directors piet kroon and tom sito , have turned their penchant for gross - out comedy , encompassing flatulence , festering sores and " popping a pimple without a permit , " into a funny , farrelly - funny family film . on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " osmosis jones " is
a wildly imaginative , original , explosive 7 . and perhaps , as they 're laughing , kids will learn where to find their uvula , along with nuggets about nutrition and hygiene .
P

a frequent error is the categorization of a terrorist as a soldier or a common criminal .
a soldier commits acts of violence sanctioned by one nation - state against another .
a common criminal commits acts of violence for personal gain .
a terrorist employs random violence as a means to a political end .
if the target nation does not affect the desired change in policy , the violence continues .
it is the fear resulting from the fact that the terrorist may strike at anyone ( even total innocents ) , anywhere , at anytime that gives the figure his label .
edward zwick 's the siege explores the possibility of this kind of violence taking place right here in the united states .
you 'd think the opening bit was ripped right from the headlines .
arab terrorists kill american citizens abroad , and the u . s . responds by retaliating against the sheik whom supposedly ordered the attack .
however , unlike the real - life tomahawk cruise missile strike against bin laden 's camp and manufacturing facility , the film version depicts special operations troops kidnapping sheik ahmed bin talal .
in retaliation , the terrorists bring the fight to the new world .
unwittingly involved is fbi assistant special agent - in - charge anthony hubbard ( denzel washington ) , who works out of the bureau 's new york office at one federal plaza .
while investigating a series of bombings in the big apple , he encounters cia agent elise kraft ( annette bening ) , also trying to uncover information .
generally , the fbi is charged with problems inside the u . s . , while the cia takes care of problems in the international realm .
even spies from other countries are off limits to the cia as long as they are in our country .
hubbard therefore finds it highly unusual that an agency spook is nosing around what he considers his territory , but as the two form a tentative professional relationship , hubbard becomes more and more aware of an increasingly complicated series of allegiances and possibly illegal actions involving terrorism and the united states government .
the original tagline for patriot games was , " there has never been a terrorist attack on american soil . " however true , it was pulled before the movie 's release because it sounded too much like a dare . revisiting the scenario of foreign terrorists committing acts of violence in the united states , the siege is almost an invitation in itself , because it shows just what kind of turmoil could be produced if an effective terrorist network were to set up operations here in america .
admittedly , the terror wrought upon new york is a bit excessive ( who 's going to believe that a few bombs are going to cause new yorkers to jump at the backfire of a bus or to curtail their shopping by two - thirds ? ) , but the basic premise is still valid .
i liked the fact that this film rises above the basic action - thriller fare of good guy g - men against bad guy terrorists by exploring some of the effects on society and law and order .
it provides a very possible hypothesis that violent activity on the part of a few arabs would escalate into a series of hate crimes against the arab - american population , and that in an effort to find the terrorists , the civil liberties of the minority may be violated by the government itself .
in fact , about halfway through the film , when the president authorizes the declaration of martial law within new york city , the liberties of all americans are put at risk .
although it may actually be a side effect of a terrorist campaign , the demise of social order in america is a scary thought and a goal which would not be beneath many international terrorist groups .
throughout , the film maintains a conflict between hubbard , who wants to use the fbi to pursue the terrorists within the letter of the law , and general devereaux ( bruce willis ) , who is in command of the army and of the mind that the greater good would be better served by suspending the law and pursuing the terrorists more forcefully .
what results is a fascinating debate over the appropriateness and constitutionality of the declaration of martial law and the invocation of the war powers act , utilizing philosophy and historical examples to make points on both sides .
it actually gets rather heady at times , but it 's a credit to screenwriters
zwick , lawrence wright , and menno meyjes that they do n't underestimate the intelligence of the audience .
i do n't know if it 's his tone or inflection or something else , but denzel washington has a way of spitting out dialog that makes whatever he says sound great .
this , combined with his innate acting ability and his experience in playing the mid - level authority figure , makes his performance in the siege convincing and enjoyable .
annette bening gives one of the more assertive portrayals of a female character i 've seen recently , and the chemistry she shares with washington is palpable .
it 's somewhat unfortunate that her character 's fortitude is broken at a certain point , but it allows us to watch bening play a little more range .
bruce willis is pretty much relegated to a tough - guy role , always standing straight , and with a permanent scowl fixed upon his face .
however , the tension that exists between devereaux and hubbard is a major drive behind the film 's development .
notable is tony shalhoub who plays fbi agent frank haddad , a lebanese immigrant .
the role calls for evidencing both a kind of filial pride for his heritage , and contempt for those of his own race who might interfere with his integration into the american society .
difficult to say the least , shalhoub does it with a naturalness you can almost reach out and touch .
perhaps best known for his role as antonio the cab driver in the nbc sitcom " wings , " shalhoub gained notoriety for his dramatic abilities in the wonderful film big night .
whereas denzel washington seems to be edward zwick 's favorite actor ( he directed washington in glory and courage under fire ) , james horner seems to be his favorite composer .
i therefore found it odd that zwick chose the prolific score - writer graeme revell ( seven films this year already ) over horner for the siege until i realized that this film contained a lot of arabian - themed music , and horner 's record has shown more of a propensity for scores either neutral in ethnicity or irish - sounding at most .
revell
does a good job at providing appropriate music to punctuate key scenes and allowing the score to enhance the movie as a whole .
it 's nowhere near as intrusive as in some of the other films we 've been getting throughout the year .
missteps in the siege can be found in a couple of the excesses it takes .
for example , it 's pretty clear throughout that the film is meant to be more of thriller than an action flick .
unfortunately , there 's a scene where the army just cuts loose against some arab immigrants in a blatant display of firepower and explosions , obviously meant for the sole purpose of being eye - catching .
in the middle of the city ( and against no real opposition ) , zwick even has the army use a cobra attack helicopter to shoot rockets into a building no farther than 50 feet from friendly troops .
verisimilitude really goes out the window at that point .
the film also gets a little preachy toward the end , focusing on the ability of different races to get along .
a noble gesture , the film just puts the message across a bit too obviously .
these flaws are glaring , but they do n't detract too much from an otherwise good film that makes you think about issues you may not have considered since history class .

P