Luscious Gwyneth Paltrow (nailing the British accent) stars in Sliding Doors as Helen, a stylish PR executive who is so good at her job that her jealous male bosses concoct a pretense to lay her off rather than let her show them up. Helen is in love with Jerry (John Lynch), the wannabe novelist with whom she lives and whose struggling literary career she happily finances. The problem is that Jerry is a neurotic scoundrel who has never been able to break off his relationship with a previous girlfriend, a London-based American promotional executive named Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn). In the main line of Helen's life, it takes a while for Jerry's failings to come clearly to light. But in that alternate reality, Helen loses her job and Jerry all in one day. The agony is horrible, but she soon finds solace in the attentions of another bloke, a charming businessman and sportsman named James (John Hannah).

IN ONE OF HER "LIVES," HELEN (GWYNETH PALTROW) LOSES HER JOB BUT FINDS HAPPINESS WITH ENGLISHMAN JAMES (JOHN HANNAH).

Howitt's basic premise is nothing short of nifty, and his execution is a marvel. He quickly and artfully devises ways for us to tell which life we're in as he cuts back and forth between the Helen who catches the train and the Helen who misses it. In the early going, one Helen has a bandage on her face from her encounter with the mugger, while the other wears just the sad countenance of a woman done wrong. Later, when the injured Helen's wound has healed, the alternative Helen, wanting to break out of the funk of joblessness and a broken heart, opts for a radical new haircut. Thereafter, we follow as Helen No. 1 is reduced to waiting tables while Jerry fabricates long hours of library research to cover his ongoing trysts with Lydia. Concurrently, Helen No. 2 is beginning a romance and jump-starting her career by opening her own business. With terrific skill, Howitt interlaces these two stories, even taking the characters to the same locations at the same times.

I really can't rave about this picture enough. It is deliciously funny. Jerry has a sarcastic friend named Russell (Doublas McFerran) who reduces us to guffaws as he makes fun of Jerry's weak addiction to Lydia's shrewish charms. And the script develops its characters with terrific skill. Jerry is pretty much a weasel, but we pity him more than hate him. And though James is only average-looking, his intelligence and self-deprecating wit make him immensely appealing. Filmmaker Howitt even manages to deliver a third-act crisis that proves nicely surprising even if faintly contrived. In the hands of a less-talented writer, the problems that loom between Helen and James would require some stupid instance of uncharacteristic behavior. But Howitt critically refuses to allow his characters to act like nitwits. In the end, he even finds a surprising way to resolve the vast gap between the two narratives. And as the credits on Sliding Doors begin to roll, you want to leap up and yell, "Bravo!"