Opening September 15:

The Black Dahlia
Grade: B

Based on a novel by hard-boiled crime writer James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential), Brian De Palma's entertaining but ultimately ludicrous film details the investigation of the murder of an aspiring young actress (The L Word's Mia Kirshner, who appears in black and white screen tests and a naughty lezzie stag film). Featherweight actor Josh Hartnett is surprisingly convincing as Bucky, a boxer-turned-cop who pairs up with an officer played by Aaron Eckhart. Meanwhile Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank crank up the glamorous slut meter as the seductresses in Bucky's life.
Veteran cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond provides bravura camerawork. And when De Palma's hot, he concocts some of his most thrilling and intricate suspense scenes since Dressed to Kill.
Unfortunately the movie deteriorates into pulp trash in the final act. The solutions to the multiple mysteries in the story are so farfetched and unsatisfying that you can't help but feel like all the good work up to that point was a complete waste of time. Because it walks such a fine and awkward line between being an exquisitely crafted detective yarn and a trashy late night movie on cable, The Black Dahlia will undoubtedly find itself on the sidelines come Oscar season.