Playing doctor with David Duchovny

Photo © Beacon Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Raymond Blossom (Timothy Hutton) and his girlfriend Claire (Angelina Jolie) get a second opinion from Dr. Eugene Sands (David Duchovny) in "Playing God."

The catch phrase used in the advertisements for "Playing God" is "A Game With No Rules."

Could they possibly have come up with a worse, more generic slogan than that?

Wait. Don't answer. That's what we like to call a rhetorical question.

The funny thing is that as lame as a line like that might make you think the movie's going to be, it's completely misleading. In fact, "Playing God" is one of the most engaging, witty and inviting films to appear in a long, long time.

The immediate draw for this film is obvious. It stars David Duchovny, who has the double-fortune to be both a cult icon and a sex symbol. As the face behind "The X-Files'" FBI Agent Fox Mulder, Duchovny's bound to rope in the show's devotees, as well as the simply curious haphazard viewer. As the face behind many a romantic fantasy, he's destined for similar success. He's probably even got a few fans who remember his work as the transvestite detective in David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." So, no worries about box-office potential.

Of course, Duchovny hasn't always picked the best roles in the past. His co-starring turn in the atrocious Brad Pitt/Juliette Lewis vehicle "Kalifornia" for example. Or the part of the "evil yuppie" in the look-at-the-doggie flick "Beethoven." But that's all in the past. Someone's apparently been reading the script first this time around, and that someone (Duchovny, his agent, whatever the case may be,) knows a good thing when they see it.

Duchovny plays Dr. Eugene Sands in the film, a surgeon who's lost his medical license because of a drug problem which he was unable to keep out of the O.R.

In a bizarre turn of events, he comes into contact with Raymond Blossom, a very unique kind of criminal played by Timothy Hutton, who hires him as a sort of mob-doctor. Basically, he wants Sands around to treat gunshot victims and other unfortunates within his "family" who can't be brought to a hospital without a lot of unnecessary questions and, most likely, arrests.

While Duchovny's portrayal of Dr. Sands is indeed admirable, it's actually Hutton who makes the movie. Playing Blossom as a quirky cross between a mobster and a surfer, he brings a presence and a personality to the screen that is so layered it's not only believable, it is, in its own twisted way, lovable. As evil as his character is, you still like him. Perhaps it's the fact that his love for his girlfriend, Claire (Angelina Jolie), is so obviously genuine that it redeems him. Or perhaps it's just because he defies all the conventions of the action-flick gangster and brings us a bad guy who is not only interesting, but unique.

That's part of the beauty of this film, actually. Even though it's undeniably an action film, complete with gun-fights, death-defying heroism, a love interest and the requisite car chase, every one of those elements is handled in a way that hasn't been done before. In fact, "Playing God" almost manages to redefine the genre, or at least create a new sub-genre of its own. One of the principal elements at work is the humor of the film which, through both dialogue and action, never misses a beat, even in the film's darkest moments.

And then (and this is what really puts "Playing God" on another level), there's the surrealism. There are a number of scenes, but especially one involving a group of bikers in an out-of-the-way bar, that are just so otherworldly and impossible that the validity of the story comes into question. But they work. They add an element of surprise that's completely different from the one that crime thrillers usually possess.

A few more things worth noting: a hero (Duchovny) who tries to heal people instead of kill them; a neat joke where Duchovny impersonates an FBI agent; a great conversation on the difference between American and British football; an ethnically and multi-culturally diverse crew of wacky criminals (including "Fargo" star Peter Stormare); and an enlightening lesson in the powers of movie make-up (Jolie's appearance ranges from otherworldly stunning to slightly frumpish through the course of the film.)

The only problem? The voice-overs. There is almost never a need for voice-overs, unless you're watching "The Wonder Years." They just distract you from the world of the film. A small gripe, however, for such a big movie.

Oh, and when you see it, let me know if that isn't the hotel corridor from "Barton Fink" that makes an appearance towards the end.