Searing story of betrayal isn't for kids.

Closer is no joke and it's got the brave, mature performances of an all-star cast to prove it. It's a movie in which characters feel each other up with their hands and knock each other down with words.

Like dramas by Pinter and others, what seems trenchant and perfectly pitched in the theater can come off as arch even when skillfully transferred to film.

'People are filthy, they're not worth lifting a finger for.' Closer conveys this sentiment more powerfully than anything else.