But "Country Life" is finally less about Jack than about the family's disillusionment with Alex. In the end, all the characters seem to be shallow, comic caricatures, through no fault of the actors.

But Mr. Baitz, writing in a far more flamboyant style than before, has also created some comic caricatures worthy of at least cameos in Waugh's "Loved One" and West's "Cool Million."

Dr More's hyper-fragmented community allows for comic caricatures while still reflecting on the roots of society's problems.

The director Jim Abrahams (who also directed "Big Business" and co-directed "Ruthless People" and "Airplane") can't merge the weak comic caricatures here with the strength of Ms. Ryder's performance.

The editors, Deborah Gesensway and Mindy Roseman, have collected from attics, basements and college libraries prison paintings by internees, ranging from comic caricatures to desolate landscapes, mainly rendered in watercolors and sumi brush drawings.

But by the height of their career, their movies were essentially comedies, with the Kids depicted as low-class but basically harmless, likable teens - comic caricatures of their former selves.

The comic caricatures are at times a bit tired and schematic, and there are a few too many conflicts to be satisfyingly resolved in the course of a single day.

Like most inspired comic caricatures, the Diamonds are people with whom their creators feel a certain affectionate kinship.

But there is Conrad's genuine sympathy for the poor and the anarchists to consider, not just his comic caricatures of revolutionists.

Bonnie Thompson, a 34-year-old Hicksville resident and witch, sold products ranging from silver pentacles and chalices to bath salts and dolls that looked like comic caricatures of witches as evil old hags.