But occasionally the attitude is in fact fresh and funny, and it arrives embodied in a character with flair and charisma, such as Christina Ricci's DeDee in The Opposite of Sex (which opens in town a week from Friday). Screenwriter Don Roos (Boys on the Side, Love Field), who wrote and directed this dark, dark comedy, hasn't dreamed up an especially compelling story or populated it with out-of-the-ordinary types, but he does provide some very funny lines and a great postmodern premise. DeDee, you see, is fully aware she's stuck in a coming-of-age movie, and she narrates the story of her 16th year with all the clichs and sentimentality that the genre entails. Her vulgarity and prejudice, shrewdly calculated to shock, provoke startled laughter and come to the rescue of many a standard scene.

After fleeing her dysfunctional home in Louisiana, DeDee shows up at the Indiana home of her brother Bill (Martin Donovan), a high-school teacher whose former lover Tony died of AIDS and left him a large estate. She promptly seduces his boyfriend Matt (Ivan Sergei), reveals she's pregnant, and takes off for L.A. Accompanied by Tony's sister Lucia (Lisa Kudrow), Bill sets out in search of DeDee, Matt, the unborn child, and $10,000 from Bill's safe-deposit box.

This is standard road-movie stuff, with perhaps two too many locations and a slightly overcomplicated plot, but it's delightfully enlivened by DeDee's subversive comments. Even as a child actress, Ricci always displayed a self-possession far beyond her years, and this very adult role proves her versatility. Kudrow is a nice surprise in her first substantial film part; her gift for comedy is undisputed, but in her scenes with Donovan and Lyle Lovett, who plays a local cop, she's luminous and vulnerable. Although Donovan's dry wit is an asset, he's a static presence at the center of the sentimental scenes that slow the movie's third act. Roos seems unwilling to undercut these supposedly emotional conversations with DeDee's narration, and the movie drags until she reappears.

This type of movie is the backbone of the independent film movement: a small ensemble, an examination of sexual politics, youthful characters, and at least one novel twist in tone to make things interesting. It's turning into a formula as rigid as any mainstream genre. But if the tone is interesting enough, and if the character carrying the tone can get past our jaded sensibilities, the formula can still entertain. Roos wisely lets Ricci's keen wit command his movie, and she leads, prods, and baits us into having a very good time.