Good effort destroyed by another Hollywood cop-out

Rating: 3/10 (4 October 2014)

A valiant attempt at film noir, on the usual trope of male naivetÃ© and female cunning. The satirical cameo critiquing reality t.v. and CNN is effective. There was other interesting stuff for about 100 minutes, then the film spiraled into absurdity. (spoiler alert- basic plot) This is the tale of a perverse and sociopathic woman who has spent years manipulating men. Dangerously -- for Hollywood -- her key manipulations involve deploying feminist tropes against men, the better to get away with the crime. Well, that couldn't be tolerated for long, so 30 ludicrous minutes are tacked onto the film, to make us feel neutral about her and less sorry for the male victims. Secondary plots are silly and generally pointless, and some of the action is pure varnish. Enough grandiose discourse on Gender is offered to fill a dozen college courses, which is why this will never be a classic film.