COME ON DOWN

Will movie critic Janet Maslin really be leaving the lofty N.Y. Times for Rex Reed’s berth at the not-as-lofty N.Y. Post?

That was the word from columnist Liz Smith in her column in the N.Y. Daily News.

Reached at the Times’ office, Maslin wouldn’t confirm or deny: “Strictly a rumor. I don’t know how it got in there.”

A rep for Smith’s office said they got it “from a good source” and that while Maslin told them she couldn’t make a statement, “she didn’t deny it either.”

Speaking through a rep, Post Executive Editor Frank Devine told Outtakes: “It’s news to me.”

Said the assistant, Reed’s contract “is not up” and he’s still with the paper. Reed, newly co-hosting (with Bill Harris) the TV review show “At the Movies,” couldn’t be reached. Maslin just returned to the Times following maternity leave.