ASK THE DUST — ** — Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Donald Sutherland; rated R (nudity, sex, profanity, racial epithets, drugs).
"Ask the Dust" — based on the well-regarded 1939 novel by author John Fante — wants to be more literate than most movies.
But this adaptation of the Depression-era tale suggests that the novel may be horribly dated, a relic that doesn't read nearly as well as it originally did. (It also seems to suggest that the book is what might have resulted if Ernest Hemingway had tried to write in the style of John Steinbeck.)
The film is an overwrought mess that you'd almost swear was a parody if you didn't know better.
Colin Farrell stars as Arturo Bandini, a would-be writer who has come west to Los Angeles seeking fame and fortune. Instead, like many others, he sinks into poverty and is barely living hand to mouth. Worse, he's been unable to find inspiration for his writing.
That is, until he meets Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek), a feisty Mexican waitress. Arturo is smitten immediately. But instead of wooing her in a conventional way, he insults her. Not too surprisingly, she responds in kind.
This will-they-or-won't-they relationship sounds rather Shakespearean (particularly "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Much Ado About Nothing"). But screenwriter/director Robert Towne turns it into hokey melodrama, and his efforts to throw in elements of racial prejudice fail miserably.
Both his leads are capable of better work. Farrell's showy line readings and voice-over narration verge on hammy, though Hayek's overemoting isn't much better. The secondary characters are more interesting and sympathetic, especially Donald Sutherland's boozy flophouse resident and a disfigured housekeeper played by Idina Menzel ("Rent").
"Ask the Dust" is rated R for male and full female nudity, simulated sex, scattered use of strong profanity (some sexual), use of slurs relating to racial stereotypes and ethnicities, and some drug content (marijuana use and references). Running time: 117 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com