Issues drama at its patchiest, Battle in Seattle takes the 1999 street siege protesting the World Trade Organization conference as the jumping off point for a simplistic diatribe. The minnows vs. whales setup gives us idealistic march organizers in conflict with avaricious corporate henchmen and their governmental stooges whose policies, according to the marchers, are a raw deal for workers, the environment and Third World countries.

I'm no expert on trade guidelines, but the deck is stacked against the WTO so heavily that, in dramatic terms, they're the underdogs. The activists are uniformly young, attractive and adventurous. Their adversaries are a phalanx of anonymous, frowning wrinklies in suits.

A fair number of Hollywood names go slumming in one-dimensional roles. Stuart Townsend (Mr. Charlize Theron) is the film's writer/director, and the casting has the feel of friends and acquaintances recruited at a cocktail party. Ray Liotta is the embattled mayor, OutKast singer Andre Benjamin is an upbeat eco-philosopher, Michelle Rodriguez and Martin Henderson are activist-lovers, Connie Nielsen is a jaded TV reporter, Woody Harrelson is a good cop pushed to the limit and Theron is his pregnant nonpolitical wife.

The ragged narrative mixes all the players together as the plans of the benevolent city government and well-meaning marchers go awry in an escalating series of confrontations.

The scenes of conflict carry a certain resonance, but the film's ambitions exceed Townsend's grasp. After the teargas clears, Benjamin's character sums up what the conflict accomplished. ''Now people know what the WTO is,'' he says. After a moment's consideration, he says, ``No they don't. But they know the WTO is bad.''

The same could be said for the movie, which will leave you slightly better informed than two hours spent staring at a wall.

Cast: Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin.

Writer-director: Stuart Townsend.

Producers: Mary Aloe, Kirk Shaw, Stuart Townsend.

A New Market Films release. Language and some violence. Running time: 98 minutes. In Broward only: Gateway.

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