In this truly odd-off-the-beaten-path combo of TWILIGHT ZONE meets RED SHOE DIARIES neo-noir pastiche mash-up , Mickey Rourke stars as Nate, a downward spiraling jazz trumpeter who works in two-bit strip joints somewhere out in desert who finds himself earmarked for assassination by gangster Happy Shannon (Bill Murray, sporting Roy Orbison shades and his usual , low-key snark) –whose wife Nate unknowingly slept with. Surviving the attempt on his life (don't ask) he finds himself stumbling upon a traveling carnival where he meets Lily (Megan Fox stereotypically cast) a young woman featured on display behind glass
for having vestigial angel wings (!) Here Ned falls in love with the 'freak' (for a lack of a better term) but sees redemption in perhaps wiping the slate with Happy by offering a business transaction to clear his name (i.e. 'selling' a share of Lily to the thug). What naturally follows is some mistaken emotions and an irate Rhys Ifans as Lily's 'owner' out for revenge.
While longtime scribe and Murray collaborator/friend Mitch Glazer makes an intriguing directorial debut (he co-wrote the Bill Christmas classic "SCROOGED") – to say the least – the film sadly is a one-note oddity that doesn't know if it's supposed to be a metaphorically 'serious'noir (i.e. a gilded Lily may finally have freedom as well as Ned despite their trappings – literally a cage and a never-ending desert) or a black comedy (enter Murray who frankly I am biased and love the big lug but he wasn't intimidating as a criminal in MAD DOG AND GLORY). It's a fascinating mess overall and even Rourke's comeback kid can't save it nor can the always beguiling Fox.
While longtime scribe and Murray collaborator/friend Mitch Glazer makes an intriguing directorial debut (he co-wrote the Bill Christmas classic "SCROOGED") – to say the least – the film sadly is a one-note oddity that doesn't know if it's supposed to be a metaphorically 'serious'noir (i.e. a gilded Lily may finally have freedom as well as Ned despite their trappings – literally a cage and a never-ending desert) or a black comedy (enter Murray who frankly I am biased and love the big lug but he wasn't intimidating as a criminal in MAD DOG AND GLORY). It's a fascinating mess overall and even Rourke's comeback kid can't save it nor can the always beguiling Fox.