December 12, 2003

IN the early 1960's, the innovative designs of Carroll Shelby, a racecar driver from rural Texas, forced Europhiles to take American sports cars seriously. An exhibition of his most famous works, ''A Life in the Fast Lane,'' is now at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Page 7.

It's probably fitting that portions of the Farrelly Brothers' chewy but minor comedy are set in a resort town during the winter — Martha's Vineyard — like their first picture out of the toboggan chute, "Dumb and Dumber." Both movies seem to come out of a taste-free zone partially inspired by Rankin/Bass, the animation studio responsible for holiday stop-motion, self-pity classics like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The Farrellys' creations — this time it's the conjoined 32-year-old twins Bob and Walt Tenor (Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear) — reside happily on a landscape like the Island of Misfit Toys. Bob and Walt are conjoined country mouse and city mouse; the directors bring the double-sided motif closer together than ever before. Bob is happy slinging burgers, while Walt aspires to be an actor — a successful one, that is. He's already the star of their hometown, where he has the lead in the one-man Truman Capote show "Tru"; some of the funniest stuff in "Stuck on You" involves the comparison of Robert Morse's version to Walt's. While Walt succeeds without really trying, Bob hides under his bangs and maintains an e-mail relationship with a girl he's been writing to for three years, and hasn't met. When Walt decides it's time for them to move to Hollywood, he convinces his younger brother by saying it's a chance for Bob to actually see his Internet honey in person. With "You," the Farrelly Brothers have a big, steaming order to deliver; they have to compete with the legacy of their own bad taste, which they compensate for with a quality that some may find even more repellent — sentimentality. It's a much funnier movie than the trailer would lead you to believe; it would almost have to be. But "Stuck on You" is just not as consistent as the Farrellys' previous trash wallows. — Elvis Mitchell

Goldman Sachs plans to ask New York City for grants, tax breaks and tax-free financing to build new office tower in Lower Manhattan after new building in Jersey City (NJ) has difficulty securing tenants (M)

Alliance Capital Management, as part of its effort to reach settlement with New York State Atty Gen Eliot L Spitzer, is considering reducing fees for fund shareholders; whether Spitzer will ultimately be able to wring such concessions from Alliance as well as other fund companies is still unclear; puts Spitzer at odds with Securities and Exchange Commission, which considers such industry practices to be under its purview; latest impact of current mutual fund scandals could be lower fees for investors and less profitability for mutual fund companies; Massachusetts regulators take action against Prudential Securities for its failure to supervise brokers in its Boston office who arranged for customers to make hundreds of improper trades; Securities and Exchange Commission also brings civil suit against Heartland Advisors and some of its top executives, saying they defrauded investors of $93 million by overvaluing bonds in two mutual funds in 2000; founder-chief executive William J Nasgovitz and three other executives are cited for insider trading in same mutual funds by either selling their position or tipping off others; Heartland says allegations are untrue and will contest them; photos (M)

Rev Al Sharpton vows to make re-election difficult for New York State legislators who have not supported his campaign to win Democratic presidential nomination after number of his former allies prominently endorse his opponents; photos (M)