But in this canny translation by Mary Hudson, Céline's tone - a strangely endearing combination of self-awareness and black humor - ultimately wins your admiration if not always your sympathy.

The film is blessedly free of talking heads, aside from Ms. Lin's own and that of Vincent Scully, the Yale architectural historian who was Ms. Lin's mentor and who manages to view her work with an endearing combination of surprise and admiration.

The President, with an endearing, adolescent combination of brashness and shyness, and with the barest trace of a Western drawl, was now reading aloud a speech someone had written about EPICAC XIV.

T. S. Eliot was a genius and a prig - not an endearing combination in life, and not an easy one to portray on screen.

It is, of course, the sweat factor that makes Ms. McKechnie such an endearing combination of seasoned headliner and eternal chorus girl.

Greg was shown her wide sunny smile for the first time, an endearing combination of gratitude and shyness.

Mr. Broderick brings an endearing combination of intelligence, wit and naivete to his portrayal of a security guard who is transformed into the human gizmo Inspector Gadget after being blown up in an effort to capture a megalomaniacal magnate (Mr. Everett).

As usual, Mr. Broderick brings an endearing combination of intelligence, wit and naivete to his portrayal of John Brown, a security guard eager for a job on the Riverton police force who is transformed into Inspector Gadget after being blown up in an effort to capture the evil magnate Sanford Scolex (Mr. Everett).