Like Howard Hawks or John Ford, he's adept at moving between genres and styles, from neo-noir (The Grifters) to romantic comedy (High Fidelty) to costume drama (Dangerous Liaisons) to Hitchcockian thriller (Dirty Pretty Things); because he's never been locked in to a specific type of film, he doesn't get the attention of, say, a one-trick pony like Tim Burton. Since he can move so easily between styles, one would think him particularly adept at combining them within one picture. But his previous effort, Tamara Drewe, fumbled uneasily between comedy and drama, and his latest film, Lay the Favorite, integrates them with even less success. It is, frankly speaking, a bit of a mess.