Definitely a case of style over substance, but who cares when the style is so damn good ?

FEMME FATALE is another example of how Brian De Palma's star has waned over the years. Give me the director circa 1980 and the likes of DRESSED TO KILL and BLOW OUT and he could do no wrong; but as with many of the young directors of the 1970s, he seems to be unable to make a good film these days. FEMME FATALE, written and directed by De Palma, is a case in point. It's a confusing, convoluted thriller, badly over-directed by the once great; the opening robbery sequence should be amazing, featuring orchestral music, shocking scenes of violence and sexuality, and hard-working cinematography. Instead it feels overblown and silly, and it's hard not to burst into laughter at the earnestness of it all.Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, best known as the blue-skinned mutant in X-MEN, is a poor choice for the lead role; she just doesn't have the acting chops for the job. Antonio Banderas is better, but underutilised and acting with tongue in cheek for the most part (and who can blame him?). The film seems to go on forever and deals one unconvincing plot twist after another, and in the end it just went over me rather than involving me.

Femme Fatale is a movie which takes its time in really getting going but in the end it's worth the wait. It seemingly starts out as a straightforward heist movie. Rebecca Romijn plays Laure, who's part of a team of thieves who mean to steal a diamond-encrusted bra. They're going to take it right off the model who's wearing it at the Cannes Film Festival. Laure takes the model into the restroom where seduction is on the menu along with theft. But just when Laure and the model, now relieved of her diamonds, are really getting into one another things go awry. Laure disappears with the diamonds. Her partners in crime are not well pleased. Will Laure get away with it? Well, luckily for her a series of events too fortunate to really be believed allows her to get out of France. Less luckily events seven years later conspire to bring Laure back to Paris. Her old partners anxiously await her return. Laure's in trouble and she knows it. Extricating herself from this mess will require an elaborate plan. And a patsy. Enter unwitting photographer Nicolas who finds himself caught up in something beyond his imagination. And something quite dangerous.The opening heist sequence, while very well done, does go on perhaps a little longer than needed. And then the movie has to get Laure out of France and back again. All in all it takes quite a while for the movie to actually set itself up, to get to the real story. It's a complicated, at times convoluted, thriller. The movie is certainly intriguing enough to hold your interest but it does move rather slowly. But writer/director Brian De Palma manages to pay it off in the end. The movie's final twists and turns make the whole thing worthwhile. Everything comes together in quite smart fashion. Yes the movie got bogged down at times along the way but when you see the whole story you appreciate how well De Palma put the pieces of his puzzle together. The performances aren't great. Romijn is certainly not the most talented actress around. But she definitely looks the part of the sexy femme fatale. And her somewhat stiff acting actually kind of fits the role of the ice queen Laure. Antonio Banderas meanwhile seems somewhat bored with the role of Nicolas, he doesn't bring much energy to the proceedings. But he does make Nicolas sympathetic enough that you feel for the guy as Laure toys with him. And toy with him she does in so many ways. Laure is a woman not to be trifled with. Her story is compelling. The way De Palma presents that story borders on genius. Femme Fatale is a movie which keeps you guessing and which ultimately rewards you for sticking with it through its more mundane moments. Not an ordinary heist movie or a run-of-the-mill thriller. This is a movie with smarts, one which packs a surprising punch.

If you enjoy watching Brian De Palma move the camera around, this is the film for you because De Palma does everything here but shove the camera up his butt and give himself a colonoscopy. For the rest of us, actually watching a colonoscopy would be more entertaining and rewarding than sitting through Femme Fatale.Before I get to the plot, I first have to say that Rebecca Romijn probably sets a new standard here in the category of "Models who embarrass themselves by trying to act". Now, I know what you're thinking. "How could she possible be worse than Cindy Crawford in Fair Game?" It does seem both physically and metaphysically impossible for any model to be a more pathetic thespian than Crawford trying to pass herself off as an attorney. Well somehow, possibly with the aid of the Devil or some lesser demonic entity, Romijn manages to suck even more. There's not an ounce of conviction in anything she says, her range of expression goes all the way from heavily medicated to lightly sedated and she moves like a poorly operated animatronic figure. Romijn is trying to portray a con-woman in this movie, but she's not even believable as a human being.In fairness, Romijn might not have been THIS awesomely terrible without her director apparently doing everything he could to magnify and exaggerate her weaknesses. In the first 40 minutes of Femme Fatale, Romijn is on screen almost the entire time but has less than 40 seconds of dialog. That means she's asked to carry off her role solely on the strength of her ability to emote. Unfortunately, Romijn radiates emotion like a frozen corpse in a Siberian blizzard. It is honestly uncomfortable to see her fail so miserably at conveying the simplest and most elemental of feelings. Then when Romijn does get to talk, De Palma saddles her with a French accent, which is a little like asking the world's worst cook to make a soufflé.As for the plot, Romijn plays a beautiful enigma who betrays her partners in a jewel theft and manages to run into a woman who looks exactly like her, so she steals the other woman's identity to hide from her vengeful former comrades. As her doppelganger, Romijn's character meets a U.S. diplomat (Peter Coyote) and marries him. 7 years later, a handsome non-entity (Antonio Banderas) manages to take a photo of Romijn's character, which launches her into a ludicrously convoluted scheme to extort money from her husband and disappear before her betrayed buddies can track her down and kill her. I really can't go any further into the plot without spraining my brain. This isn't one of those stories where things don't make sense. This is one of those stories where it is impossible for things to make sense. There are holes in this plot that even De Palma himself couldn't explain away if I stuck his genitals in a garbage disposal and threatened to flip the switch.Oh, and that whole "running into someone who looks exactly like you at the precise moment you need to hide your true identity" thing? Sounds pretty convenient, doesn't it? Well, there's a twist at the end of this film that's a billion times more absurd than that. I'd tell you what it is, except then I'd feel compelled to go on for at least another 5,000 words about how bizarrely, insultingly ridiculous it is and life is too short for that.Femme Fatale is a f***ing fiasco.