Under Suspicion (R) ★½

Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman face off in an alleged mystery-psychodrama that comes up innocent on both counts.

Story

Two young girls are dead, the apparent victims of a serial rapist-murderer. Called in for questioning is Henry Hearst (Hackman), Puerto Rico's most prominent tax attorney. Hard-nosed cop Freeman and his loose-cannon assistant (Thomas Jane) smell a rat -- Hearst's alibis don't add up, his Internet activities are on the barely legal side and he hasn't made the French Connection with his troubled trophy wife (Monica Bellucci) in quite some time. Just when you're about to write off the movie as a 110-minute episode of ''Law & Order,'' a major plot twist falls from the sky and crushes what is left of the film's believability.

Acting

Model-turned-actress Bellucci (''Bram Stoker's Dracula'') is a pleasant surprise in her first major U.S. role. She delivers a few lines in her exotic voice, looks alternately alluring and enigmatic in lip-glossy close-ups, and does little else ... but what she does, she does well. Hackman (two Oscars) gives an uneven performance, effectively conveying hidden shame and guilt but lapsing into Shatner-esque delivery in moments of nervous indignation. Freeman (three Oscar noms, give him one already) helps redeem the film, revisiting familiar territory as the no-nonsense detective.

Direction

Director Stephen Hopkins, who cut his teeth on horror and action flicks (''Lost in Space,'' ''Predator 2''), brings the tricks of his previous trade to the psychodrama genre. Sometimes the unusual marriage works, as in the flashback scenes that meld Freeman's interrogation with the other characters' memories. But he succumbs to the temptation to show off the exotic surroundings with vertigo-inducing camera work, creating an atmosphere of artificial tension that the stumbling story line can't sustain.

Bottom Line

A dramatic plot twist has a lot in common with the punch line to a joke: Setup and timing are just as important as delivery.

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Starring Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Thomas Jane, Monica Bellucci and Nydia Caro.

Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Screenplay by W. Peter Iliff and Tom Provost. Released by Lions Gate.

es: Brockovich is a torrent of profanity.

'Erin Brockovich'

Julia Roberts: Erin Brockovich

Albert Finney: Ed Masry

Aaron Eckhart: George

Marg Helgenberger: Donna Jensen

Cherry Jones: Pamela Duncan

Peter Coyote: Kurt Potter

Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures present a Jersey Films production. Director Steven Soderbergh. Producers Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher. Written by Susannah Grant. Executive producers John Hardy, Carla Santos Shamberg. Cinematographer Ed Lachman. Editor Anne V. Coates. Production design Philip Messina. Music Thomas Newman. Costumes Jeffrey Kurland. Art director Christa Munro. Set decorator Kristen Toscano Messina. Running time: 2 hours, 11 minutes.