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Grade: B-

Verdict: Refreshing romantic froth.

Details: Starring Amy Irving. Directed by Bruno Barreto. Rated R for profanity and sexual situations. 1 hour, 35 minutes.

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Review: With its azure seas, smooth beaches and postcard-views of Rio de Janeiro, "Bossa Nova" may be the next best thing to a Brazilian vacation.

A friendly bit of romantic fluff with mix-ups you could set your watch to, the film is director Bruno Barreto's valentine to his wife (and the picture's star), Amy Irving. She plays Mary Ann, a widow who teaches English as a second language in Rio. Still attached to her dead husband - every day she visits the spot where he drowned - she's not exactly looking for Mr. Right.

Luckily, Mr. Right arrives in the form of an elegantly charming attorney named Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes). He looks at her just as the elevator doors start to close. On an impulse, he steps off, follows her and, though he speaks perfect English, enrolls in her class.

Barretto surrounds their evolving relationship with a number of romances in different stages of complications. Mary Ann's best friend (Drica Moraes) is having an Internet fling with an American (Stephen Toblowsky) who claims to be a Soho artist. That he may not be being entirely honest doesn't bother her; after all, she shrugs, she told him she was a former winner of The Girl From Ipanema Contest. Then there's Acacio (Alexandre Borges), a preening soccer star about to move to England who needs Mary Ann to teach him how to insult his rivals in their native tongue. And Paulo's Gen-X intern (Giovanna Antonelli), whose "whatever" attitude is driving him nuts, has nonetheless entranced his quiet younger brother (Pedro Cardoso). However, Acacio is more her style.

Best known for "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," Barreto knows his script isn't exactly "Schindler's List." So he simply encourages his cast to go with the flow. And they do - especially Irving who looks radiant in her series of prim little sundresses.

Probably the most serious thing the movie has to say is that people can have a second chance at romance. Even people over 40. Otherwise, "Bossa Nova" is a lot like falling in love: light-hearted, light-headed and a little silly.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service

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