It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and nothing drives that home more than a screening of the new movie "Wolf.".


Welcome to the cut-throat world of book publishing, where hostile takeovers and back-stabbing employees are de rigueur and there is no room for a man like Will Randall (played by Jack Nicholson) -- a man of "taste and individuality."


So it comes as no surprise when a greedy publishing magnate (Christopher Plummer) takes over Randall's small but tasteful firm and fires him, replacing him with Randall's ungrateful, sycophant assistant, Stewart Swinton (played by James Spader).


To add insult to injury, the back-stabbing protege is also bedding Randall's wife. All in all, it is a bad week for Will Randall, and Randall, capable of little more than a middle-aged anxiety attack, is ready to let it all happen.


But the outlook isn't all bleak. As luck would have it, Randall has been bitten by a wolf while driving along a deserted strip of road in rural Vermont. Within hours our mild-mannered publishing executive is ready to throw away his reading glasses. His ears start picking up office gossip from behind closed doors, and he can sniff a shot of tequila at 50 yards. Randall has never felt better. Let the transmogrification begin.


As for his sexual prowess -- let's just say he's a real wild man between the sheets. At least Laura Alden (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) seems to think so.


Pfeiffer is as lovely as ever playing the black sheep, renegade daughter of the same publishing magnate who is trying to marginalize Randall. Her sudden devotion to a man she is only using at first to hurt her father is a bit unbelievable, but something must be said for animal attraction. Pfeiffer's character as a cynical, jaded rich girl may seem two-dimensional, but she has her chance to shine in the end.


Walking out of the theater you can't help but wonder about her attraction to animals. First Batman, now wolfman. Is there a pattern here? If she is not careful she could be pigeon-holed.


Aside from one unintentionally humorous scene of Jack howling at the moon in Central Park, Nicholson as wolfman does not disappoint. If anyone can pull off the on-screen metamorphosis from man to wolf, it is Nicholson. It is a rare actor indeed who can go from publishing executive to nocturnal hunter without even taking off his tie.


From the moment Randall is bitten by the wolf you are waiting for "the change" -- that deliberate moment when the audience sits aghast as man turns to beast, sprouting hair, fang and snout. But Nicholson relies more on the muscles of his marketable face than the skills of the make-up man to carry off the transition. In fact, with him it is sometimes difficult to tell whether he is supposed to be man or wolf. Jack is always a little of both.


Is Wolf scary? Those who are looking for a real seat-jolter may be disappointed. Aside from a suitably clever and knee-grabbing finish, the film is not packed with the kind of suspense we saw in horror classics such as "The Shining." But that is not the intent. This is a kinder, gentler thriller.


Gone are the days when, once bitten by a wolf, you turned into a blood-thirsty savage. In the sensitive nineties turning into a wolf is not necessarily a bad thing. Think of all the money you can save on optometry and hair implants alone. Just as there are good men and bad men, wolves, too are good and bad. Indeed, it is not the traditional blood and guts of the canine variety that viewers must fear, but the everyday stuff of urban living. We humans are far scarier than any furry quadruped with fangs.


"Wolf" is playing at the Americom House of Cinema through November 17. Show times are 8:50 P.M. Monday through Sunday, with additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday at 4:45 P.M. A second feature, "Getting Even With Dad," starring Ted Danson and Macaulay Culkin, opened Friday and will also be continuing through the 17th with daily show times at 7 P.M. Tickets for all showings cost the ruble equivalent of $7, or $7.50 by credit card.