The American Council on Literacy probably had a hand in making Stanley and Iris.

The melodrama is an overdone message movie espousing the virtues of the written word. Robert DeNiro and Jane Fonda star as working class people in an attempt to bring credibility to the film with respected performers. The attempt fails, as Stanley and Iris is nothing more than a mildly inventive picture.

The producer went to great lengths to bring together a dynamic duo; however, the pairing of DeNiro and Fonda is no more auspicious than the pairing of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny.

In fact, the match nears hell more than heaven. DeNiro seems moody and methodic in his performance and Fonda looks like she will break into a fit of aerobics at any moment. The two of them are supposed to be solidifying an emotional bond, but they have no chemistry and the cleft between them seems unbreachable. Accepting Iris' apparent working class background is difficult. She dresses better and speaks more eloquently than her background would suggest. Although Stanley tells Iris of his lust for her, his lovesickness does not manifest itself until later into the film.

For instance, when the dashing, bicycle-riding Stanley chauffeurs home Iris, there is an assumption that the two will have some coy moment of sentimentality; the scene however, detaches and becomes little more than a "get to know each other conversation."

The movie is also highly predictable. What could be an affecting moment occurs when Stanley -- possessing only rudimentary reading skills -- tries to find Iris via a street map. One only has to see the despairing look on Stanley's face to understand he will not find Iris with the map, if at all.

Stanley and Iris tries to treat other subjects other than illiteracy with an insipid subplot that is a waste of celluloid. Martha Plimpton plays Iris' pregnant, teenage daughter, which gives both actresses the chance to add mother-daughter bonding to the already woeful spectacle.

The scenes between veteran Fonda and newcomer Plimpton are not even well done; Plimpton is stale and Fonda gives no impression of motherly care. The reason for this tedious storyline is like answer 'e' on a multiple choice test, "cannot be determined from the information given."

To emphasize the importance of literacy is the film's goal. Stanley and Iris works well at this most basic task. The film shows Stanley being fired from his job because he might "pick up the wrong box or something," making one feel Stanley has been unjustly treated, and when Stanley cannot earn enough money to support his aged father, Stanley's shame in committing him to a state home is like a deeply penetrating knife wound.

However, although Stanley's plight is well-disclosed, all this can be learned from any second grade teacher. The positive aspects of literacy, and its necessity in life, do not need to be spoon fed to people; these aspects are something with which everyone grew up. Why spend a couple million dollars and a lot of energy?

Simply, Stanley and Iris tries to use reading as a catalyst for romance, but instead, uses it as a gimmick in a film that is just plain dumb.