I am prepared to suspend a great deal of disbelief while watching amovie, but during ``Girl 6'' I found it difficult to believe that a phone sexgirl would get addicted to her job. To the money, sure. To the power over themen who call her, perhaps. But to the sex? Even though Spike Lee's ``Girl 6'' was written by a woman, it seemsconceived from the point of view of a male caller, who would like to believethat the woman he's hiring by the minute is enjoying their conversation just asmuch as he is. Jennifer Jason Leigh's phone sex girl in Robert Altman's ``ShortCuts'' was much more realistic as she chatted on the phone in the midst of afamily uproar.

Spike Lee is a great director, but his strong point is not leadingexpeditions into the secret corners of the female psyche. ``Girl 6'' opens withits star, a would-be actress played by Theresa Randle, reading dialogue used bythe character Nola Darling in Lee's first film, ``She's Gotta Have It.'' Thatwas a film about a woman who satisfied her own sexual needs while remainingbemused by her male suitors. So, in a sense, is ``Girl 6.'' In a way, both filmsare about emotional transvestites: The women in them relate to sex in ways morecommonly associated with men.

As the movie opens, the future Girl 6 is a struggling actress. Lee showsher struggles in a series of recycled cliches. She auditions for a lustfuldirector (Quentin Tarantino, continuing his world tour of other directors'movies). She gets a job passing out brochures on the street. She works as abored coat-check girl. She's fired by her acting coach because she can't affordthe payments. OK, we get the idea: She's broke and desperate, and needs to makesome money.

But before we continue with her odyssey, let's take another look at thataudition scene with Tarantino. He eventually asks her to unbutton her blouse,because he wants to see her breasts. She does not want to. It would diminish andhumiliate her. She is angry and tearful. But he claims he's making a big moviewith major stars (``Denzel... Wesley...'') and so she does finally expose herbreasts. Now if Lee is saying Tarantino is a cretin for making her do this, thenlogically he shouldn't let us see her breasts even if Tarantino can. But hedoes. What we have here is a scene about a woman being shamed by exposingherself, and the scene is handled so that she exposes herself. That puts Lee inthe same boat with the lecher.

That scene is emblematic of the film's basic problem: It's about a womanexposing herself for male entertainment, even though it pretends to be about menexposing themselves for female employment. Spike Lee makes a big deal in hispress notes about how all of the male callers to Girl 6 are photographed inhigh-definition video, which is then transferred to film, while Girl 6 isphotographed in 35-mm. film: ``The overall effect is one of diminishing eachman's power, while the 35-mm. look and texture of the women heightens theirstrength.'' Uh-huh, but it's the guys who are paying, and Girl 6 who is delivering.

And consider the scene early in the film where she gets so turned on whiletalking to a man that her heavy breathing attracts a crowd around her phonecubicle. Call me a cynic, but I believe most phone sex girls do it for themoney, and while they may take pride in their technical proficiency, theiremotional lives take place when the phone is on the hook.

In the film, Girl 6 is first auditioned for phone sex by a dirty-talkingfemale bar owner (Madonna), but eventually finds a berth in a cozy,well-organized operation run by a good businesswoman (Jenifer Lewis). There's asubplot about how Girl 6's former husband (Isaiah Washington), a shoplifter,still wants to be with her. But Girl 6 prefers her callers. Some of them areweird, like the guy who masturbates while talking about the money he's making,or the guy who says he's pulling out his pubic hairs with a monkey wrench.

But then there's Bob. Girl 6 gets to like Bob. He becomes a regular caller.

And then--this is hard to believe--she agrees to meet him in person. Is thiswise? Is it plausible? Of course--but only in the fantasies of a phone sexclient. And then Bob stands her up, which is, I suspect, the opposite of whatwould really happen.

Meanwhile, Lee introduces other half-realized ideas into the film. Girl 6 isseen in the dress and hairstyles of many African-American screen icons (DorothyDandridge, Pam Grier and characters on ``The Jeffersons''). Herdress-up scenes are intercut with Lee's versions of the movies and programsthat inspired them. To what purpose? I'm not sure. I hope it's nothingso mundane as to show that she can be many things to many people. There is alsoa subplot with her friendly neighbor (Spike Lee), who cautions her and likesher, but serves no particular purpose in the plot.

``Girl 6'' is Spike Lee's least successful film, and the problem istwofold: He doesn't really know and understand Girl 6, and he has no clear ideaof the film's structure and purpose. If he'd been able to fix the secondproblem, he might have been able to paper over the first one. Strongly toldstories have a way of carrying their characters along with them. But here wehave an undefined character in an aimless story. Too bad.