BLAME IT ON THE BELLBOY

BLAME IT ON THE BELLBOY Dudley Moore, Bryan Brown (1992, Hollywood, $94.95, PG-13) For a movie that lasted about a week in theaters, this mistaken- identity farce is surprisingly entertaining. Blame that on an antic ensemble. Dudley Moore is a browbeaten flunky sent to Venice to buy a villa, Bryan Brown is a sensitive hit man hired to ice a local mafioso, and Richard Griffiths is a married gentleman in town for a computer-dating fling. Because bellboy Bronson Pinchot mixes up their messages, the three men wind up keeping each other's appointments: Griffiths with real estate sharpie Patsy Kensit, Brown with a prim computer date-and Moore with the Mafia. The resulting complications rarely reach their madcap potential. Yet in this era of freeze- dried, one-joke comedies, even a half-baked farce doesn't seem half bad. Lower your expectations for one evening at home, and give this one a whirl. C+ -Michael Sauter