The padded screenplay takes the neo-noir notion of hardboiled and launches it right into a soupy camp stew.

It's a bizarre relationship, tender and respectful with a suggestively incestuous undercurrent that pulls at the story, like a schizophrenic, drug addled take on Tennessee Williams

Sheryl Lee, as the cop who Billy Zane is scamming and sleeping with gives such a terrible performance that is simultaneously absolutely perfect. She's the most accurate representative of the movie as a whole.

Elegantly stylish, intensely erotic, and slightly perverse, this rendition of Thomson's pulp novel is an art movie that's likely to divide sharply film critics and audiences--go for the ride.