Ask the Dust - Dave Devereaux

In screenwriter/director Robert Towne's (Chinatown) latest, Auturo Bandini (Colin Farrell) is a writer's-block-bitten author out to pen the great American novel in 1930's Los Angeles. Down to his last nickel and living in a seedy hotel, he meets the beautiful Mexican waitress Camilla (Selma Hayek) at the neighborhood café. The first meeting does not go well, as Arturo is rude and insulting - impolitic it seems, for someone who is clutching his last Indian Head. Nevertheless, Arturo and Camilla continue to see each other and eventually go on a first date, which leads to a latenight au naturel romp in the Pacific surf. Does love bloom here? No, our surly scribe continues to spurn not just this advance, but several more from the fiery Camilla, leaving Camilla and the audience baffled.

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel has created a marvelously sepia-toned, beautifully lit Los Angeles perfect for the "film noir" tone Towne envisioned in his script. The characters are suitably hard boiled, especially a gin-soaked Donald Sutherland in a small role.

Eventually, Arturo has a stroke of luck as his East-coast publisher sends him a hefty advance on his novel. This enables him to take Camilla away from the waitress life and her tubercular boyfriend to an idyllic cottage at Laguna Beach. There, love does indeed blossom and Camilla settles into being a homebody and the perfect muse for Arturo as he cranks out 2000 words a day.

Will their love be everlasting? Will Arturo finish the novel? Will the audience care by the time the credits roll? The movie drags as Arturo and Camilla battle each other and their own insecurities. And while the chemistry between Hayek and Farrell is questionable, they do their best to smolder and sizzle. It's the script that fails to ignite.