Steal This Movie! (R) No Rating

The life of legendary '60s radical Abbie Hoffman is chronicled in less-than-revolutionary style.

Story

Charismatic left-wing activist and all-around troublemaker Hoffman (Vincent D'Onofrio) emerges as a leader of the anti-war movement, helping to change history when he and his Yippie tricksters face off against the Establishment in the famous protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But this outlaw among outlaws inevitably goes too far, and his increasingly serious legal problems force him underground. Cut off from his former life, will he find a way out of his desperate situation before the feds catch up with him?

Acting

There's the seed of a great performance in D'Onofrio's characteristically intense work, but the uneven film around him never gives it the chance to take root. At times he manages to capture the mixture of brilliance and danger that made Hoffman such a mesmerizing public figure. However, he comes off as self-conscious in the weaker scenes, especially when trying to portray the free-loving Pied Piper that was the youthful Hoffman. Minus her trademark sarcasm, Janeane Garofalo unearths little of interest in the blandly written role of Hoffman's wife, Anita.

Direction

Producer-director Robert Greenwald (TV's "The Burning Bed") converts Hoffman's inherently dramatic story into a disappointingly tame biopic that screams "Movie of the Week." The recreations of events such as the Chicago protests combine documentary footage and new material so un-Gumpishly that the filmmakers probably shouldn't have bothered. Things improve during the more personal story of Abbie's life on the run, but one still leaves hoping that this clumsy effort won't keep a better Hoffman flick from being made in the future.

Bottom line

Aging ex-Yippies might consider stealing this movie when it hits the local corporate video store ... but they should think twice about paying to see it.

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Starring Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kevin Pollak and Kevin Corrigan.

Directed by Robert Greenwald. Produced by Robert Greenwald, Jacobus Rose and Elizabeth Selzer. Screenplay by Bruce Graham and Robert Ward. Released by Lions Gate Films.