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'Casanova' is light, lively and likeable

More a pratfall-filled, bawdy romp along the lines of Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers" than an inspired masterpiece like 1963's Oscar-winning "Tom Jones," "Casanova" is nonetheless a welcome addition to the bewigged, lacy-decolletage, puffy-shirt genre of ribald romantic farce.

Granted, director Lasse Hallstrom's take on the legendary lover — played with manly dash and an irresistible twinkle by Heath Ledger — is more fiction than fact. But ask yourself: Did it really matter if Joseph Fiennes looked or acted anything like William Shakespeare in "Shakespeare in Love"?

Touchstone Pictures 'Casanova' B The verdict: A likable, lightweight lark starring Heath Ledger, the It Boy of 2005, as Casanova, the It Boy of 1753. Director: Lasse Hallstrom Starring: Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, Oliver Platt Run time: 108 minutes Release date: Jan. 6, 2006 Rating: R for some sexual content. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Casanova'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

In 1753 Venice, Casanova is so famous his sexual exploits are re-enacted all over the city in smirking puppet shows and leering street plays. Thanks to the Doge's (Tim McInnerny) amused protection, Casanova does pretty much as he pleases, which means pleasing an inordinate number of women. "So many windows, so little time," he sighs when yet another willing partner flirts with him from her boudoir with a canal view.

Still, even the Doge can't help him when Casanova catches the baleful eye of the Inquisition after being caught in a convent with his pants down. Marry or face exile, it's decreed.

Casanova quickly strikes a beneficial bargain — marriage to the pretty daughter (Gloria Grahame look-alike Natalie Dormer) of a very wealthy man. But on the very same day, he meets and falls for Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), a free-thinking beauty who can duel and debate as well as any man.

She, of course, will have nothing to do with him.

Besides, she's already engaged to Lord Papprizzio (Oliver Platt), the aptly shaped lard king of Genoa who's come to Venice to meet his bride. Also newly arrived in the city is Instigator Pucci (Jeremy Irons), the Inquisition's nasty, sanctimonious envoy.

Mistaken identities, masked balls, drunken escapades, scandals, duels, gondolas, bed-hopping and a lovely flight over Venice in a hot-air balloon ensue.

The supporting cast — which, along with Irons and Platt, includes Lena Olin (Mrs. Hallstrom) as Francesca's smart, sexy mother — sometimes outshines the romantic leads. Ledger and Miller are good, but they don't really strike sparks off one another. (Oddly, Ledger and Olin are the hotter couple.) They're more convincing as individual characters than as a couple who are truly, madly, deeply in love.

The free-for-all script, co-written by Kimberly Simi and "Stage Beauty's" Jeffrey Hatcher, can be overbusy, but it zips along with color and zest. And Venice plays its gorgeous self gorgeously, with a few enhancements.

This is easily the liveliest Hallstrom has been in almost a decade. After the enormous promise of "My Life as a Dog" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," he sank into a rut of Dignified Oscar Hopefuls that had audiences slogging through self-conscious star-laden blanks like "Chocolat" and "The Shipping News." "Casanova" never takes itself seriously and, for someone as talented as Hallstrom, that's seriously good news.