SET IN NEW YORK CITY'S Little Italy. The Pope of Greenwich Village traces a few months in the bizarre relationship of two best-friend-cousins, Charlie and Paulie. Everything Paulie does seems to cause problems for Charlie Paulie tends to think up illegal ways of making extra cash, schemes that always manage to involve Charlie, and by the end of the movie Charlie has lost his job, his live in girl friend, and almost his life. All Paulie seems to have lost is his thumb.

Why Charlie (Mickey Rourke) risks all for his rather dim witted cousin Paulie (Eric Roberts) is more complicated than the simple "blood runs thicker than water" explanation the more mature Charlie often gives. The subtle depths to the duo's relationship is constantly revealed throughout the film, made exquisitely palpable by the two leads. Rourke puts in a superb performance as the more stable Charlie, a man in his mid-twenties with extravagant tastes, especially for natty suits and a greased hair-do. He already has a son by a previous marriage and dreams of owning his own restaurant some day. What prevents Charlie from becoming a success on his own is a strange lack of initiative. Rourke's Charlie is seemingly content to plod along--dreaming of the future--only becoming daring when his cousin plunges him into another one of his hair-brained plans.

As the rather dim-witted Paulie, Roberts portrays a man who has never grown up to realize that thieves often get caught and that horses sired by champion studs don't always win races. But what Paulie has, that only his cousin seems to appreciate, is charm Robert's performance as Paulie is the highlight of the movie, he shows how a rather stupid person can also be imaginative and very funny. He preserveres through all his troubles because he doesn't know any other way of living. Rourke's Charlie sticks by Paulie because of a tribal instinct in which the strong stay by the weak. Strong and weak are often reversed in their relationship.

Rourke and Roberts develop a magnetic bond between their two characters, and that alone makes the movie worth seeing. At one point, when Rourke's Charlie realizes that Paulie knew all along that they had dangerously robbed a mobster's safe, Charlie fiercely slaps Paulie around and then surprisingly pats his face tenderly. This combination of fierce love and angry concern keeps the two together, leaving them with no one else. The two encounter the mob, and almost succumb until Charlie plays his trump card, and finally shows that while he can stand on his own, he still needs Paulie.

A fine script and excellent potpourri of supporting actors round off this special movie. Bert Young appears as a rotund godfather type figure, who revels in good pasta and his small network of not-so-efficient hoods.

Geraldine Page excels as the mother of a crooked cop who accidently dies, while Charlie and Paulie are robbing the safe. In her cameo-role, Page reveals the strength behind her character's alcoholic, chain-smoking passivity. And as Charlie's aerobic-dancing girl-friend Diane. Daryl Hannah proves her ability as a serious actress. She poignantly leaves Charlie, because she realizes he will always be "just one inch away from being honest." Diane refuses to compromise her values, despite her love for Charlie, and we feel her pain as she discovers that Charlie loves Paulie more than he can ever love her.

THE MOVIE FLOWS so well because of the plot, which combines a serious drama with dashes of brittle good-humor. Paulie's rather limited vocabulary and satire of the lifestyle of small-time gangsters. New York City is the colorful setting for the film, which features scenes of the gritty city rooftops, velour interiors, and the all-too-appropriate music of Frank Sinatra.

The Pope of Greenwich Village succeeds because of its modest approach to its subject. One particular scene sums up the entire mood the movie conveys. With the voice of Sinatra booming out, the camera focuses in on Charlie, Paulie, and some of their friends playing baseball on a play-ground using a tennis ball and not too much athletic mobility. At one point the group stands in play, swaying and snapping their fingers to the music. The scene is so unusually appealing that for a moment we forget that there is any drama going on, and would be content just continuing to watch the tableau. By the end of the movie. Charlie has truly become the Pope of Greenwich Village, but--he knows and we know that his happiest memories will dwell on scenes like the playground, scenes that mix a tension about the future with a down-to-earth acceptance of inability to fulfill his dreams.