Superstar

No one smells sweat quite like SNL comedian Molly Shannon -- that tension-fraught moment when she, as her neurotic parochial-school alter ego Mary Katherine Gallagher, burrows her fingers deep into her armpits and then whips them out for a calming sniff. But even with the help of a dead-on imitation of Sybil and some intimate moments involving trees and stop signs, Shannon's twisted approach to aromatherapy can't carry what amounts to another skit-to-screen humdinger, this one directed by Kids in the Hall alumnus Bruce McCulloch. The film -- which finds our horny heroine entering a talent show and fantasizing about a Hollywood-style kiss -- strains hard to sustain its feature length, tacking on a clumsy back story and doling out a dual role to fellow SNL trouper Will Farrell (he plays both the class hunk and a groovy God). Sure, Mary Katherine may flash her panties (a lot) and kibitz with her breasts, but what's truly freaky here is how these desperate spinoffs keep getting made.

-- Alicia Potter