The only actor who comes out unscathed is Jami Gertz, whose sympathetic portrait of a troubled overachiever is the film's one bright spot. But even she has trouble when she is required to make a speech at the end that supposedly comes from the heart, but which the audience isn't supposed to know is real.

Writer-director Douglas Day Stewart, best known for his "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "The Blue Lagoon" screenplays, also wrote and directed "Thief of Hearts." Those films are all uncomfortable mixes of modern-day sensibilities and old-fashioned sentiment, and Stewart is no more comfortable with "Listen to Me," most significantly in an ill-conceived attempted rape sequence that occurs late in the film.

The subject for the big debate, by the way, is Roe vs. Wade, the controversial abortion issue presently before the Supreme Court, and the finale is done before the justices themselves, a silly contrivance that is almost as cliched as the many other plot devices here.

If you really want to see a well-made dramatic examination of abortion, watch the TV movie "Roe vs. Wade" Sunday night. It's a much more intelligent look at the same material.

"Listen to Me" should be titled "Shut Up." It's rated PG-13 for scenes of violence, profanity, sex and brief nudity.