Edmond Review

Directed by Stuart "Re-animator" Gordon and based on the play by David Mamet, "Edmond" stars William H Macy as New York businessman Edmond Burke (see what he did there, philosophy-fans?), whose life is turned upside down after a fortune-teller tells him "You are not where you belong". He tells his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) he's leaving her, and then heads out into the city for a series of bizarre encounters with, variously, a lapdancer (Denise Richards), a prostitute (Mena Suvari) and a barmaid (Julia Stiles). However, instead of liberation and free will, Edmond finds only anger and frustration and after he's mugged, conned and assaulted, he decides to take matters into his own hands, with shocking consequences.

As with most films based on plays, the film feels extremely theatrical throughout. It's also very heavy-handed in confronting its various themes, with each encounter illustrating Edmond's repressed misogyny, racism or homophobia. Fortunately, the dialogue is often darkly funny and Macy's performance keeps things watchable, even if his character isn't particularly sympathetic. However, when Edmond's odyssey finally descends into violence, Gordon's horror movie sensibilities come into play and it suddenly seems like you're watching a different film.

The supporting cast looks great on paper, but only Julia Stiles gets anything interesting to do - Mena Suvari is particularly wasted and anyone going to see the film on the basis that Denise Richards plays a lapdancer is destined for disappointment.

Ultimately, despite Macy's strong performance, the film feels too slight and too unsubtle to really work properly and the shift in tone may prove too nasty for some.