In theaters

HEAD OF STATE, directed by Chris Rock, written by Rock and Ali LeRoi, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

Let’s put the misconceptions to rest right up front. The new comedy, “Head of State,” may carry the stink of old scandal, but it is not, nor was it ever, meant to be a film about the Clinton White House.

What it is is a movie that considers the possibility of someone like Chris Rock running for president of the United States, an idea that will likely send ripples of horror through those determined to keep the White House white but which will likely leave others cheering in the aisles.

As directed by Rock from a script he co-wrote with Ali LeRoi, the film is what Adam Sandler’s “Anger Management” should have been. You know – funny.

It creates a world in which Mays Gilliam (Rock), a down-on-his-luck alderman saddled with a criminally insane ex-girlfriend (Robin Givens), is plucked from relative obscurity to become the first black presidential candidate of a major political party.

Is the United States ready for such an historic event? One would assume Gilliam’s party would hope so, but they don’t. Indeed, unbeknownst to Gilliam, they’re hoping he will lose the election to Brian Lewis (Nick Searcy), the current vice president, a man whose timely campaign slogan is among the film’s edgiest jokes: “God bless America – and no place else!”

With Lewis essentially unbeatable, Gilliam’s party wants to start building minority support now so that their real candidate, whiter-than-white Sen. Bill Arnot (James Rebhorn), can win in 2008.

And what better way to do that than to get behind a black man now?

Fueled by Rock’s clipped direction, his eye for satire and a hip-hop heavy soundtrack that includes songs from Jay-Z and OutKast, the movie works in spite of its convoluted premise and its occasional lapses in logic. It has the same brisk, impatient style of Rock’s standup routines, which gives the film its energy and its considerable charm.

The movie hits its stride at its midpoint, when it occurs to Gilliam that he should listen to his brother, Mitch (Bernie Mac), and break free from the canned, generic speeches created by his uptight campaign team (Dylan Baker and Lynn Whitfield). When he does so, the film finds Gilliam doing what Rock himself does best – standing in front of an audience and hurling biting observations about the sorry state of the world.

Not surprisingly, Gilliam’s popularity soars and so does Rock’s movie, which happily goes along for the blistering ride.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

THE TRANSPORTER, directed by Corey Yuen, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, 92 minutes, rated PG-13.

In “The Transporter,” Hong Kong director Corey Yuen’s frenetic exercise in Eurotrash gone berserk, Britain’s Jason Statham is Frank Martin, a man so consumed by adhering to three simple rules, it only makes sense that he eventually breaks them.

As a transporter of illegal packages to all sorts of unseemly types slumming throughout the south of France, Frank is a grim bloke – former military – whose rules go like this: First rule, never change the deal; second rule, no names; third rule, never look in the package. Follow those rules and life as a transporter will allegedly be a breeze.

The Category 5 hurricane that eventually blows in occurs when Frank is hired to transport a duffel bag to a crude American named Wall Street (Matt Schulze).

Initially, Frank doesn’t know what’s inside the bag. But when he opens the trunk of his BMW and witnesses the bag move, he checks its contents, finds a beautiful young Chinese woman named Lai (Shu Qi) bound and gagged within, and then gets caught up in a plot that involves Lai trying to prevent her father, the evil Mr. Kwai (Ric Young, looking eerily like “Halloween’s” Michael Myers) from selling boatloads of slaves on the open market.

The film, from a script by French director Luc Besson (“The Professional,” “The Fifth Element,” “La Femme Nikita”), is as lively and as fun as it is unapologetically dumb. Those seeking only creatively choreographed gunfights, fistfights and well-conceived pyrotechnics won’t be disappointed, but those hoping for a shred of logic to bolster the thin plot will likely be left puzzled.

Statham, the co-star of Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” has the action hero’s necessary bald pate, pumped-up physique and a perpetual 5 o’clock shadow, but unlike Bruce Willis, the man he most resembles, he doesn’t have humor or much of a personality.

He’s smaller than he looks – so are Stallone and Van Damme, for that matter – but he holds the screen like a giant, a quality that might give Vin Diesel a run for his money as the new breed of action heroes rises up in Hollywood.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Auto Focus?C

The Banger Sisters?B

Barbershop?B+

Blood Work?B-

Blue Crush?B+

The Bourne Identity?B+

DRUMLINE?B+

8 Mile?C

8 Women?B

Far From Heaven?A

Femme Fatale?C+

Formula 51?F

The Four Feathers?C

Full Frontal?D

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?B+

Half Past Dead?F

Igby Goes Down?A

I Spy?C-

Jackass: The Movie?B

Knockaround Guys?D

Lilo & Stitch?B+

Maid in Manhattan?B-

Minority Report?A-

Moonlight Mile?B

My Big Fat Greek Wedding?A-

One Hour Photo?A-

Possession?B

Red Dragon?B+

Reign of Fire?C+

The Ring?C

The Road to Perdition?A-

Secretary?B+

Simone?B

Signs?B-

SPIRITED AWAY?A

Spy Kids 2?B+

Sweet Home Alabama?B-

Swept Away?D-

Swimfan?C

THE TRANSPORTER?B-

The Truth About Charlie?B-

The Tuxedo?C-

Unfaithful?B-

White Oleander?B+

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?A

The Wild Thornberries Movie?B+