Corrina, Corrina

In Corrina, Corrina, Ray Liotta plays a young widower who needs a sitter for his daughter (Tina Majorino). Whoopi Goldberg plays a black woman with a college degree and an unfulfilled desire to be a writer. But it's the 1950s, so her quest for happiness is stuck somewhere between being a housemaid and a substitute mother, with the latter steering toward an interracial romance.

Which is the gist of this romantic comedy that plays a bit like an odd mix of House Boat and I'll Fly Away. Almost everything in the film is soft peddled, as the movie vaguely suggests more than it ever delivers. Corrina, Corrina depends heavily upon the performances of Goldberg and Liotta, and much to their credit, they're able to hold this film together — despite a screenplay that threatens to hit the melodramatic slopes with the fatalistic determination of a ski jumper.

The key to Liotta and Goldberg's budding romance is Majorino, a bright girl who refuses to talk because of her inability to deal with her mother's death. Whoopi is able to drag the kid out of her self-imposed shell with a casual breeziness that will make her the envy of psychotherapists everywhere. She's also good at improvising ad jingles, which keeps Liotta from losing his advertising job when he can't find a word to rhyme with "Jell-O."

Corrina, Corrina is more committed to its warm, fuzzy, feel-good glow than to the social statement lying buried beneath its script. Nonetheless, Goldberg's surprisingly strong range allows her to underplay her part while dominating the screen — one of the reasons why Corrina, Corrina is charming without being maudlin.