Hurlyburly

Aroview: Demoralising 'character study' of four middle-aged film industry parasites who hang out and pontificate the meaning of their pathetic lives while mostly whacked on coke.

Intended as a damning expose of sub-Hollywood hedonism and soullessness, the endlessly convoluted double-talk (indulged by the entire cast) seems to express no other voice than the writer (David Rabe, based on his 1984 play) who here ironically suffers from the same pretentious, self-important banality of his despised characters.

Unbearable for all but the most ardent followers of Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey, who come off slightly less tarnished than Garry Shandling, Chazz Palminteri and Meg Ryan, but worse than our poor young Anna Paquin.

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