August 25, 1992 -- ``Raising Cain'' is another Alfred Hitchcock film look-alike from director Brian De Palma who delights in the macabre (such as ``Carrie'').

``Raising Cain'' has some good laughs and a great performance by John Lithgow who has three roles in the film, including his own father. Overall, however, the film lacks any kind of subtlety. Its tone is more like a cartoon than a satire. The heavy-handed and frivolous nature of the film is no substitute for wit.

This goofy, good-natured film does have its charms, however. ``Cain'' is about Lithgow, who suffers from a split personality purposefully induced by his psychiatrist father. Lithgow's father used the boy as a guinea pig to study multiple personalities and then tries to steal other children as an experimental ``control group.''

In addition to his father, Lithgow portrays both a meek character and an evil twin, one of his alternate personalities. It appears as if Lithgow is having great fun with these roles. Perhaps De Palma also had fun with the film, but I doubt if the audience found it quite that amusing.

Characters appear and disappear with startling frequency in this film and there are many improbable plot twists. All of this is fun to a certain extent, but it is also quite foolish and it gets irritating after awhile. It seems that a considerable amount of time, money and talent has been wasted on a film that is a mere trifle. It rates a D.

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