New in theaters

Frank Langella's performance makes the understated 'Starting Out in the Evening' worth seeing.

New in theaters Starting Out in the Evening (PG-13)

Director: Andrew Wagner. With Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose. (111 min.)

Frank Langella gives a wonderfully modulated performance as Leonard Schiller, a once highly acclaimed, but now mostly forgotten, New York-based novelist whose rigorously ordered life is sundered by the attentions of a graduate student (Lauren Ambrose) who hopes that her masters' thesis will resurrect him. The relationship between these two is far from predictable. Director Andrew Wagner, adapting a novel by Brian Morton, is sometimes understated to a fault, but his work with the actors, who also include Lili Taylor as Leonard's daughter, is impeccable. Grade: B+ – Peter Rainer

Still in theaters Enchanted (G)

Director: Kevin Lima. With Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey. (107 min.)

Disney's "Enchanted" is about Giselle (Amy Adams), a would-be princess, who is banished from the fairy-tale kingdom of Andalasia to modern-day New York City. Adams projects a sweetness that seems entirely genuine, and a movie that genuinely respects its audience is not to be belittled. Grade: B+ – P.R.