Steven Spielberg mounts "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", which he wrote and directed, with canny precision. We are introduced to key players in this UFO story with both color and humor, and the cast is extremely good. Richard Dreyfuss is a suburban husband and father who has a seemingly chance encounter with a spaceship and becomes a man obsessed, pretty much shunning his wife and kids in the quest to find answers to improbable questions. On the rural side of town, Melinda Dillon is a single mom whose little boy has been taken by aliens; she and Dreyfuss are linked by their visions of a craggy mountain where they are sure something incredible will take place. It turns out the vision is really an invitation to be a part of something extraordinary, but the secretive government may stop them both from reaching their destination. This is where the picture begins falling apart: in preparing the scenario for The Ultimate Interstellar Answer, Spielberg loses the heart of the piece. We are greeted with beautifully-realized special effects, but at the expense of a general understanding of the situation. "Close Encounters" is never just a light show--it is far more assured and satisfying than that--but Spielberg leaves us with more questions than he's prepared to answer. There's also a hoked-up, "sentimental" slant to the movie that is a betrayal to all the obsessive crazies, scientists and astronauts left open-mouthed at the end. Some viewers may see this as a cheat. *** from ****