When you discover that "Palmetto" was made by the same man who made "The Tin Drum" (still embroiled in a lawsuit in Oklahoma), you do a double-take. Which is not to say that "Palmetto" is a bad film; if nothing else, it shows director Schlondorf to be a talented filmmaker with a flair for experimenting with other genres.

The plot of "Palmetto" is too convoluted in detail to explain; suffice to say that Harry Barber (Harrelson) is a recently released chump who was wrongly imprisoned for his morals two years ago. His faithful girlfriend Nina (the criminally under-used Gershon) welcomes him home, but Harry's just pissed enough to do something stupid - so he accepts a blonde femme fatale's (Shue) offer to make some money by pretending to kidnap her step-daughter (Sevigny). Of course things go awry, and soon Harry's got dead bodies everywhere to worry about, whilst the blonde's cavorting with someone else.

What's striking about this film is the amount of humour and comedy that Schlondorf and writer Max E Fryes throw into the brew. Every now and then, the audience is reminded to not take things too seriously, which is a good sign in general, but which also begs the question: WHY is Schlondorf making a "so-so" movie when his other credits prove him capable of much better fare? And if he had wanted to make a film with American stars, couldn't he have picked a better line-up? As it is, only Sevigny (the hot young actress who made a splash in Larry Clark's controversial "Kids") and Gershon (who, given her little screen time and third line billing probably saw most of her work landing on the cutting room floor) bring any kind of appeal to the screen. Harrelson has never been a favourite screen presence of mine (his appearance in "Welcome to Sarajevo", whilst laudable, more or less ruined the film's gritty, docu-drama feel), and although his work here is not bad, he's just not endearing enough a guy to make you care much what happens to his character - always a somewhat fatal flaw in films like this where the protagonist's plight must grip the audience. Rappaport, so good as slack-jawed dumbos, is adequate in a "heavy" role, but cannot shake his previous image entirely. As for Shue, this film confirms that "Leaving Las Vegas" was more likely than not a fluke. Not to be harsh, but she's never been the great actress that everyone made her out to be after Vegas' rave reviews came out. Here, she performs courageously (the scar on her left cheek discernible throughout the film was the result of a dog bite she suffered just weeks before cameras rolled on this film; bravo to her professionalism for carrying on with the project sans cosmetic enhancement) but her performance spans the gamut of shy female to demented psychopath. Indeed, most of the time, she doesn't seem quite sane, and whilst this seems interesting on print, it doesn't really pan out as a screen acting technique.

With more twists and turns than are necessary, gaping characterisation holes (most notably in the character of Nina, who, given Gershon's talents, is unjustly shoved aside for most of the film) and a playful tone not altogether suitable for this genre, "Palmetto" can best be described as an oddity which, though pleasant enough, is ultimately far from crucial viewing. Totally optional. On a boring night.