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Deep Impact

The world doesn't end with a whimper in Deep Impact so much as it rambles on with tiresome speeches. After young Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood) discovers a comet on a collision course with the earth, the impending "ELE" (Extinction Level Event) teaches everyone a lesson about life and death and putting things in perspective. Ambitious TV news reporter Jenny Lerner (a sedated Téa Leoni) stops scrambling for an anchor position long enough to seek a reconciliation between her mother (Vanessa Redgrave, wasted with everyone else in this star-studded cast) and her father (Maximilian Schell). Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall), a member of the team sent to intercept the comet and blast it with nukes, learns to get along with his cocky young colleagues. President Beck (Morgan Freeman) takes to the airwaves to reassure the nation that life goes on. Directed randomly by Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker), these human-interest stories develop like pompous sound bites, mere preliminaries to the big bang at the end. Its title notwithstanding, Deep Impact barely makes an impression -- this is the biggest celestial dud since Kahoutek.

-- Peter Keough