BY EVAN HENERSON>THEATER CRITIC

Neil LaBute may bill his play "Some Girl(s)" as a romance, but it's not a Valentine's Day date. This 2005 offering by the author of "Fat Pig," "Bash" and "In the Company of Men" has all the tenderness of a half-starved jackal.

And yet the production of "Some Girl(s)" directed by the playwright at the Geffen Playhouse still offers keen insights into the dealings of men and women. "Girl(s)" begins ambiguously, twists artfully back upon itself and doesn't drop its last card until practically the final blackout. It's fast, it's dirty, and it has the cynical ability to hook and trick an audience.

Playing a guy called "Guy," who crosses the country to reconnect with four old flames, Mark Feuerstein is an always interesting LaBute-ian prototype. The "girls" - played by Rosalind Chao, Paula Cale Lisbe, Justina Machado and Jaime Ray Newman - make for terrific adversaries.

Lisbe's Sam is the first - what? - victim. Summoned to a meeting with Guy at a hotel room in Seattle, Sam finds her former high-school boyfriend, a successful writer, anxious to make peace with his romantic past. Guy's high-school girlfriend, Sam was unceremoniously dumped and casually humiliated. Now married to a grocery store manager, Sam may have moved on, but old wounds can be slow to heal, especially since Guy tends to mine his romantic exploits for stories.

Guy's agenda seems quizzical until he drops the bomb, "Did I mention I'm getting married?" The fog clears: our (anti)hero is looking to clean his slate, and perhaps learn something about his own character before tying the knot.

Except he's no good at either endeavor. Possessed of a 5 o'clock shadow, tousled curly hair and a mush-mouthed smile that has clearly aided many conquests, Feuerstein's Guy is by no means slick and seems genuinely surprised at how good he is at saying the wrong thing. A bruised rose like Sam should have him for breakfast, and the future ex-flames on his calendar will be even tougher.

They include Tyler (Machado), sexy, fun-loving and least in need of retribution (she'd seduce him again if he'd just say the word); Lindsay (Chao), whose professor husband Guy worked for, then cuckolded; and, finally, Bobbi (Newman), who Guy believes may have been his truest love. She's dubious. As are we.

With the aid of two set changers, set designer Sibyl Wickersheimer nimbly transforms the single location into hotel rooms in four different cities (note the standard-issue pictures change, as do the location of wet bar and doors). LaBute and sound designer Cricket S. Myers are a little heavy-handed with the Rolling Stones tunes for incidental music.

"Some Girls(s)" should, in some measure, lay to rest the frequent criticism that LaBute doesn't do well by female characters. The girls of "Girl(s)" may be damaged, but they hit back, Chao's Lindsay most notably.

"Wow, I suck!" is a Guy revelation, rather early on. "At least you know it," replies Tyler. Just how much he sucks, and how much we don't know are two of the many delights that this corrosive little comedy offers up. Romantic, it's not, but "Some Girl(s)" is one good time all the same.

Evan Henerson (818) 713-3651

evan.henerson@dailynews.com

SOME GIRL(S)    

>Where: Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.

>When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 3:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through March 9.

>Tickets: $35 to $74. (310) 208-5454, www.geffenplayhouse.com.

>In a nutshell: Boy re-meets girls years after screwing them over. Girls are not pleased.