Hurlyburly

What a cast and crew! What a disappointment! This cynical would-be dissection of the macho, self-oriented, coke-fuelled world of male film folk making up Hollywood's second rung is adapted by David Rabe from his own play. It shows Sundance prizewinner Drazan to be a formidable director of actors. Changwei Gu captures beautifully the cold, gleaming ambience of the Hollywood Hills apartments where ever-high Eddie (S Penn), 'flip' Mickey (Spacey), shallow Artie (Shandling) and near psychotic Phil (Palminteri) talk the talk like latter-day Rat Packers for whom the humour has soured into self-parody. Paquin's teenage drifter Donna, who uses her body as a meal ticket, and Ryan's rent-a-date Bonnie have the sad roles of the victims - providing evidence of the naked nature of the men's ugly misogyny - but their inadequately qualified passivity merely adds to the pervasive atmosphere of inhuman coldness. Unedifying.