A stylish but ultimately stiff collection of old tropes about writers and their audience, fiction vs. reality, and the Other that becomes you.

For all its zest and pulp elements, this is a minor work from the Chinatown director. It is told too obviously and lacks any of the ambiguity found in the first-person novel.

Nothing in this feeble psychological thriller rings true for a moment, though its unhinged machinations feel as pedestrian as soap opera in execution.

Based on a True Story couldn’t be further from reality. At one point, Elle declares that people believe the printed word. You certainly won’t believe the film adaptation, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some fun to be had on the way.