Most folks in our largely Hispanic town aren't too familiar with salsa -- the music, rather than the chip dip. But be you clueless gringo or passionate devotee, "El Cantante" (The Singer) will fill in or flush out your knowledge of the style and the man who invented it.

It does so nicely if not perfectly. The name of the man and the hero of the story is Hector Lavoe (nee Perez), a musical lad who grew up in Ponce, Puerto Rico, with dreams of pop stardom. Director Leon Ichaso tells the tale from the perspective of Hector's survivor wife, Puchi (played by Jennifer Lopez), in flashbacks:

At 18, against his father's wishes, Hector (Marc Anthony) goes to New York, where his sister introduces him to musician Willie Colon (John Ortiz), who instantly recognizes Hector's talent. Together they record "Che Che Cole," which quickly becomes a hit and goes gold. That leads, just as quickly, to a contract with Fania Records, the Latino Motown.

	In "El Cantante," Jennifer Lopez never looked foxier or danced better, and Marc Anthony gives a wonderful, soulful performance. Click photo for larger image. 'El Cantante' Starring: Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez. Director: Leon Ichaso. Rated: R for drug use, pervasive language and some sexuality. Web site: elcantantemovie.com

Hit follows hit as Hector's style catches on like wildfire: a unique mix of rumba, merengue, mambo and cha-cha that was dubbed salsa for its spiciness. In 1975, Hector was the biggest Latin star in the world, filling venues in America, such as Madison Square Garden, and in Europe.

But he was also filling his nose with his coke and his veins with heroin, despite Puchi's increasingly noisy efforts to get him to go straight.

His son's needs go unmet, his group starts to fall apart, and his professional life starts going downhill. Family tragedies and illness abound.

But before they do, he and the film give us some of the most sublime and exciting salsa concert numbers ever -- "Che Che Cole," "Mi Gente," the amazing exorcistic "Aguanile" and the title song, "El Cantante," among others.

They are frenetically and annoyingly filmed, sad to say, in the nausea-inducing, quick-cut MTV style.

Consolation prize, however, in these musical scenes is a brilliantly innovative form of subtitling the Spanish lyrics, whereby the words are visually integrated into the composition of the frame -- floating in and out, but only as needed.

Anthony turns in a wonderful, soulful portrayal of a man who cared not only for his music but for his 'Rican people, but not enough for himself. And the much-maligned Lopez -- the real-life Mrs. Marc Anthony -- is excellent as Hector's in-your-face wife and film's narrator. J.Lo has never looked foxier or danced better.

She's especially great in a scene in which Hector is late for their wedding, and she is furiously smoking a cigarette on the altar.

The trouble is, there's much too much Puchi and not enough Hector.

In Lopez's and the screenwriters' defense, the stated object is to present his life from her viewpoint. But even that doesn't quite justify the 90th long reaction shot of Jennifer to something Hector has said, or the fact that their many arguments consist almost entirely of her ranting and his sad-faced silence.

We'd like to have known more about what Hector was doing when he wasn't getting high or getting yelled at by Puchi. That said, the music is fabulous. You'll want to stay to the very end of the credits just to listen to the final song. For all its defects, this is a fitting memento and reminder of Hector Lavoe.