Of Mice and Mensches

A founder of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Gary Sinise skinned his knuckles in such Cain-and-Abel tussles as Sam Shepard's True West. Now he's truly west as the Hollywood star-producerdirector of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, which features fellow Steppenwolf howler John Malkovich as the retarded Lennie (who wraps his clumsy mitts around the kittenish Sherilyn Fenn). Far from being a schoolbook yawn, this Of Mice and Men smells farmyard-fresh. (Moo.) Sinise is a solid trunk of socialrealist art in his work shirts, but the tiny burr of frustration at the back of his line readings is a comic hoot. Next for Sinise: Jack the Bear, co-starring the always shy and retiring Danny DeVito.

JAMES WOLCOTT