Repellent yet intriguing, brutal yet funny, wicked yet strangely compassionate, The Salton Sea is more about mixing genres and styles than illuminating a credible reality.

Sacrificing content for style, Caruso gives us a lot to look at but little to ponder.

For what it is, it's well-done -- a stylized-beyond-reality derivation of Natural Born Killers, perhaps. Or a more gonzo version of Go or Blow. But the heart has been stylized out of it.

Cynical, devious and even deviant, The Salton Sea is one psychological thrill ride you don't want to miss.