Eighteen years ago, writer-director Bob Clark helped re-define the teen-sex comedy genre with Porky's. He then made a holiday film that has become a perennial favorite, the wonderful A Christmas Story. With From The Hip, Clark has also proven that he can be very effective with higher-brow comedy. However, I'd hoped his worst work was behind him with Loose Cannons--not so!

Following a screening of Varsity Blues I said to myself, Films don't get any worse than this. Then I had the misfortune of viewing She's All That --I thought I'd hit rock bottom. Last week, I learned the meaning of masochism by sitting through a dismal film you'll read about later in this column. Enter the ruthlessly bad Baby Geniuses, a ridiculous rip-off of Look Who's Talking and Rugrats.

The geniuses in question are extremely intellectual toddlers who seem to be able to do the impossible. (It's too bad that the makers of this tedious film seem to have no intellect whatsoever.) Clark has made a film that sluggishly moves from one scene to the next without an ounce of humor. The film stars Kathleen Turner and Christopher Lloyd. Why they wanted any part of this project is beyond me; neither one is given anything interesting to do.

It could be argued that Baby Geniuses is a film for children. I don't think that's giving children nearly enough credit. Kids are smarter than this and I honestly think they'd be bored to death by this humorless and infantile would-be comedy.