In week's releases: Surprises that avoid the predictable

"Smother" (PG-13, 2007, Screen Media Films): The "unwelcome houseguest" comedy is a trite genre unto itself, often following a pattern of "houseguest does increasingly annoying things while host gradually loses mind and eventually blows a vein." "Smother" looks to up the ante by giving us not one, but two unwelcome houseguests: Marilyn (Diane Keaton), the nagging mother of Noah (Dax Shepard), and Myron (Mike White), the effortlessly annoying cousin of Noah's wife, Claire (Liv Tyler). Let wacky, over-the-top hilarity ensue, right? Surprisingly - and pleasantly - not quite.

"Incendiary" (R, 2008, Image Entertainment): An unnamed woman (Michelle Williams) spends the bulk of "Incendiary" in a dual state of shock and remorse It's hard to say anything more without unspooling a thread of spoilers and giving the whole thing away, but that's sort of a testament to the approach that "Incendiary" takes to what has become an awfully common story idea over the last several years. Per usual, there's the attack, there's something fishy going on and there's something that comes a bit unraveled when one character does some math.

"The Wedding Weekend" (R, 2006, First Look): Outside of the fact that the guys used to sing together in a college a cappella group, there really is no efficient way to describe "The Wedding Weekend" 's premise - the guys and their various spouses convene for the marriage of one of their own - that makes it sound anywhere near interesting. The more pressing bit of information is that "Weekend" is a truly democratic ensemble comedy, with 12 main cast members passing the focus around like a hot potato.

"Look" (R, 2007, Anchor Bay): As the tagline on the box says, you never know who is watching. As gimmicks go, this one's pretty clever: Every scene in "Look" is shot through the perspective of a security camera - be it in a parking lot, an ATM, a department store or some other such place. For a while, that's enough to keep it interesting. But once "Look" introduces us to the people we're spying on, it becomes clear that the gimmick is all that it really has to offer.

- McClatchy-Tribune News Service