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'Teeth'

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BY GENE SEYMOUR | gene.seymour@newsday.com

January 18, 2008

Neither accuracy nor delicacy will ward off the smirks, winks and worse that this review will inspire in some readers. So deal with this description, if you can: "Teeth" is a savage little comedy about a prim teenager named Dawn (Jess Weixler) whose vagina has, well, teeth.

Fattening the irony here, of course, is Dawn's impassioned leadership of a schoolwide chastity movement called, "The Promise."

Dawn holds fast to the tenets of her cause until she's swept off her feet by a noble young convert named Tobey (Hale Appleman), who discovers upon imposing his advantage too much upon Dawn just how potent the myth of "Vagina Dentata" can be.

"Teeth" is a visual equivalent for the kind of raw, low-flying goofball patter that every so often passes for wit on "shock-jock" radio. For the most part, writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein manages to keep the campiness at a brisk, agreeably antic pace until the movie spins out into multiple revenge scenarios.

Fortunately the gratuitous and often overly garish mayhem is made more palatable by the assured comedic turn by Weixler, who deservedly won an acting award at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

TEETH (R). 1:34 (sexuality, violence, vulgarities, drug use). At the Village East Cinemas, Manhattan.