Perhaps not since "Fatal Attraction" has Glenn Close been so overwhelming, so gloriously intimidating as she is in "Heights," a stylish new comedy-drama about a New York theater diva, produced by Merchant-Ivory.

She's also quite a lot of fun. No boiled rabbits this time — just a collection of actors who may never want to work again after stepping into her path.

She plays Diana, an Oscar-winning actress who begins the movie with a withering dismissal of young actors rehearsing for "Macbeth." Imploring them to find their passion and "take a risk," she declares that "this is Shakespeare, not 'The Sopranos.' "

Movie review

Showtimes and trailer

"Heights," with Glenn Close, James Marsden, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Bradford. Directed by Chris Terrio, from a screenplay by Amy Fox, based on her play. 93 minutes. Rated R for language. Harvard Exit.

Offstage, she's equally abrasive with her daughter, Isabel (Elizabeth Banks, who could be Elisabeth Shue's twin), a photographer whose upcoming marriage to a lawyer (James Marsden) is beginning to look iffy. Diana, who suspects that he's hiding something, has just found out that her own husband is cheating on her.

Fireworks ensue, most of them involving a supporting cast that includes Rufus Wainwright (as a jaded ex-boyfriend of one of the characters), George Segal (as a rabbi), Michael Murphy (as a newspaper editor), Eric Bogosian (as Diana's director) and Isabella Rossellini (as a publicist who somehow makes "super duper" sound like the ultimate compliment).

Most of them drop in for a few minutes, but others have more extended roles. Jesse Bradford is appropriately soulful as mom's latest discovery, a private, somewhat mysterious actor who is told at an audition to play his scene as "gay but not gay."

Matt Davis has a couple of poignant moments as Isabel's ex-lover, and John Light plays a journalist who shares more of a history with some characters than they suspect. The young first-time director, Chris Terrio, skillfully juggles all their contributions.

Loosely based on a one-act play by Amy Fox (it had only three characters), "Heights" suggests a Woody Allen movie with a less nostalgic, more realistic, less firmly heterosexual sense of New York realities. This is a Manhattan in which people can get mugged, they can worry about finances and same-sex relationships surprise no one.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com