FRIENDS FOR LIFE

A breezy, predictable tale of three women friends turning 30 in Manhattan. The author of Sleepwalking (1982) and This Is Your Life (1988) could do better. Once upon a time there were four friends in Magatuck, New York, and their names were Meredith, Barbara, Lisa, and Ann. They even had their own theme song, which went, in part, like this: ``We're friends forever and we're never gonna part/MerBaLisAn, MerBaLisAn...'' Then one day Barbara's family moved to Cincinnati, and the three remaining friends were left sadly singing, ``MerhmmLisAn,'' their song and lives never quite the same. Nevertheless, Meredith, Lisa, and Ann grow up to become plausibly responsible Manhattanites, lunching together on the first Monday of each month at the Lucky Wok Chinese restaurant. Meredith, the beautiful one, is fast becoming a television celebrity; Lisa, the nice one, has turned into a hard-working doctor with a husband and a newborn; and Ann, the smart one, has recently decided she's a lesbian. The threesome temporarily breaks up when Meredith and Ann unwisely criticize Lisa's spouse, but they make up in time for Lisa to attend Meredith's wedding to an equally beautiful and successful groom. Ann, temporarily partnerless but not wholly unhappy, orders the band to strike up the MerBaLisAn Song one more time. ``So Barbara,'' Lisa concludes weepily as the band begins ``another chorus of this ridiculous and heartbreaking song: wherever you are, this is for you.'' You can practically hear the Carly Simon song under the closing credits.