As in his previous directing effort, Big Night, the merits of Stanley Tucci's new movie, Joe Gould's Secret, are not apparent until well after the movie ends. Sir Ian Holm's towering performance in the title role almost obscures much of what makes this film fascinating.

Working from New Yorker journalist Joseph Mitchell's essays, Professor Sea Gull and Joe Gould's Secret, Tucci and writer Howard A. Rodman recount how Mitchell (played by Tucci) met and befriended a cantankerous, indigent old man named Joe Gould. In the film, Mitchell encounters Gould in a café where Gould demands a free meal. Curiously, despite his abrasive manner, Gould actually eats for free at some places because their owners benefit when tourists want a glimpse of a real Greenwich Village bohemian. Gould's tattered clothes and disheveled appearance catch Mitchell's attention and indicate that Gould has nowhere to sleep but flophouses or the street. His only known source of income comes from contributions to the "Joe Gould Fund."

However, as Mitchell begins to investigate and acquaint himself with this mysterious stranger, he discovers that Gould cannot be dismissed as a common bum. Mitchell finds out that Gould has an Ivy League education and counts people like poet e.e. cummings as friends. Furthermore, Gould claims to be working on a massive document called An Oral History of Our Time, which is said to chronicle everything from idle conversations to events conventional historians needlessly ignore. Because Oral History sounds similar to the articles that Mitchell himself has written for The New Yorker, the author writes a profile of Gould that temporarily changes the old man's fortunes. Gould finds himself getting fan mail even though he has no permanent address, and an anonymous patron rents him a hotel room so he can bring Oral History to publication.

Sadly, the newfound notoriety winds up being counterproductive. Gould relies too much on alcohol to revive his memory, and he spends more time trying to track down his patron and bothering Mitchell than working on his book. No matter how Mitchell tries to help Gould or donate to "The Joe Gould Fund," negligible progress is made on Oral History.

Gould becomes something of a pathetic figure, but he offers Holm one of his juiciest roles. In films such as The Sweet Hereafter, the British actor has excelled at playing men who are on the verge of exploding. Gould, however, offers a constant stream of eruptions. While Gould may endlessly draw attention to himself by his rudeness and his revelation that he keeps The New York Times stuffed in his pants to "keep my crotch warm," Holm makes the character credible by never treating Gould in a winking or self-aware manner. When he bellows, Holm gives an appropriate sense of complete abandon that keeps Gould compelling even as he becomes increasingly selfish and deluded.

Because Holm is so mesmerizing, it's easy to ignore the subtle counterpoint Tucci offers as Mitchell. As with the original articles, the movie is told from Mitchell's point of view. Tucci and Rodman indicate that Mitchell's genteel manner and seemingly bourgeois lifestyle belie some profound eccentricities. Often insecure, Mitchell squirms when being complimented and seems to long for the freedom Gould embodies. A careful look at Tucci's nervously expressive body language makes the revelations in the final title cards seem less shocking.

Joe Gould's Secret suffers from stunt casting. While Steve Martin and Susan Sarandon play their brief roles well, one often notices them more than the characters they play. Still, in recounting Mitchell and Gould's strange relationship, Tucci has told an engrossing and thoughtful tale about how the two men matter despite their lack of productivity, and maybe because of it. (R)