HEAD OF STATE **
(Max on Comcast) The mystery of why Chris Rock can’t make a good movie continues. At least this fitfully amusing political comedy marks an improvement: Rock (who also directed) plays a D.C. alderman chosen to replace a deceased presidential candidate, and the blacker he acts, the more his populist following swells. A lowbrow script battles to a draw with moments of stinging farce, and Bernie Mac swipes every scene he’s in. (PG-13; runs through Nov. 17) TY BURR
MELINDA AND MELINDA **
(Max on Comcast) This Woody Allen movie tells two stories - one a tragedy, the other a comedy, although only nominally - about a suicidal woman named Melinda (Radha Mitchell). The film’s principle problem is that it never feels like more than a lark, a frequently unfunny one at that. (PG-13; runs through Nov. 17)
WESLEY MORRIS
SGT. BILKO ***
(Max on Comcast) Better than you might have thought. Steve Martin avoids the trap of attempting a Phil Silvers imitation, instead using his own nimble style to show how the wheels never stop spinning in the larcenous mind of TV’s legendary scam artist. This Bilko’s secret is that he’s both unthreatening and transparent beneath his bluster. Everybody knows he’s a thief bent on turning the army into a country club, but they put up with him because he brings pizzazz to their lives. (PG; runs through Nov. 17)