Wicker Park

This handsome but pointless melodrama demonstrates the sad things that happen when talented people conform to studio expectations. Sensitive hunk Matthew (Josh Hartnett) is still smarting from being deserted by his girlfriend Lisa (Diane Krueger) without any explanation. When he barely misses bumping into her at a restaurant, he's determined to find her again, only to get sidetracked by the manipulations of Alex (Rose Byrne), the lovelorn nurse (or so she says) who used to live across from them. The situation is messy enough to give this remake of the French L'appartement a modicum of interest, and Alex turns out to be a rather complex character when she's allowed some screen time. But the whole thing lives on the surface and brushes aside what goes on inside the characters' heads: Matthew loves Lisa because she's beautiful and he's required to by the script, and Alex becomes a Fatal Attraction psycho bitch who gets shafted because she's difficult (and despite some stalker-ish behaviour of Matthew's own). But it's so structurally interesting (with more temporal shifts than any movie this side of Marienbad) and directed with such Wallpaper magazine flair by John McGuigan that you want to like it more than you do. But the film hedges its bets to such an extent that it cancels itself out; it's too shallow to make it as a straight drama but too dark and tormented to be much fun as a "movie" movie. And will someone please cast Matthew Lillard as something other than a flip meathead? Extras include a shatteringly uninteresting commentary by Hartnett and McGuigan, 11 deleted scenes, a "blink and you'll miss it" gag reel, a video for the Postal Service's "Against All Odds" cover, a photo gallery, a soundtrack spot and the trailer. (MGM)