Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 dramedy Paper Moon offers a kind of synthesis of his prior two critical and commercial hits.

The picture demonstrates that in the head of a writer given to swooning and to creating swoons a criminal may seem an admirable character.

The problem with Paper Moon is that it’s hollow at the center. The central relationship, involving a small-time con man and a tough little girl who practice a Bible-selling racket in the Midwest during the Depression, remains undeveloped and unaffecting.

"Paper Moon" attempts to inject some family and heart into its road movie and con artist story to so-so effect.