a barely coherent mess, with some nice visuals

Rating: 3/10 (19 November 1999)

Those who only see movies for the pretty pictures may not be vastly disappointed. Otherwise, watching great actors like Depp and Ricci wasted on a convoluted plot, flat-out stupid dialog, and even a few special effects right out of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, is quite disappointing. The tone is uneven, the music is in-your-face manipulative, and there are no characters to identify with.
I wanted to like this movie. I saw it in an ideal situation, too: very first screening, midnight the night before it opened, at the Mann Chinese theater, nearly packed, ushered by actors dressed up like characters in the film, and free t-shirts given to all in attendance.