To say that it hasn't been a very good year for John Travolta may be the understatement of all time.

First, his vanity project, the would-be sci-fi epic "Battlefield Earth," was thumped, both critically and commercially. And what did he do to follow up that public-relations disaster? He took a role in another bad movie, of course.

That would be "Lucky Numbers," a desperately unfunny dark comedy that does nothing to further Travolta's once-promising "comeback" career. About the only way this dud would be lucky for Travolta is if it does a quick fade at the box office, leaving no evidence connecting it to him or the other talented cast and crew members.

Once upon a time, that list might have included filmmaker Nora Ephron, who made a major splash with her "When Harry Met Sally" script and her writing and directorial work on "Sleepless in Seattle." However, her last couple of efforts (the laughless comedies "Hanging Up," which she directed and co-wrote, and "The Story of Us," which she wrote) suggest her best days may be behind her.

That could also describe the film's main character, television weatherman Russ Richards (Travolta). Russ is a big cheese in Harrisburg, Penn., with his own table at Denny's and his face on billboards all around the city. But that's all about to change.

For one thing, his spending is out of control, and, thanks to an unseasonable winter warm spell, his once-thriving snowmobile dealership is about to go under. So, with help from local strip-club owner Gig (Tim Roth) and Lotto-ball-girl Crystal Latroy (Lisa Kudrow), he tries to rig the state lottery.

And the scheme actually looks like it's going to work, at least until the patsy who is set up to buy the winning ticket (Michael Moore) gets greedy and turns up dead. Suddenly, they have no way to cash in the ticket.

What's worse, there's a whole slew of people who know about the plan and want a piece of the pie, including Gig's dull-witted, strong-arm accomplice (Michael Rapaport) and the greedy station manager (Ed O'Neill), who's jealous of Russ and Crystal's relationship.

Unfortunately for Ephron and scripter Adam Resnick, none of these quirky characters are particularly funny or appealing. In fact, as Russ, Travolta is downright unlikable, and the usually dependable Kudrow's work here is uninspired.

She's not the only one who's slumming, though, as evidenced by the presence of Roth and Bill Pullman, who plays a lazy cop investigating all the shady goings-on.

"Lucky Numbers" is rated R for frequent strong profanity, violence (beatings and gunplay, supposedly done for laughs), use of crude slang terms and vulgar sex talk, simulated drug use (marijuana), nudity (partial female and some nude artwork) and simulated sex. Running time: 105 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com