Edmond (18)
Rating: **
Dir: Stuart Gordon
With: William H Macy, Mena Suvari, Dule Hill

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A young cast of notables including Mena Suvari (American Beauty) were presumably attracted to this darkly comic tale because the script had David Mamet's name on it. While not without its moments, Edmond makes it seem a long time since the glory days of Glengarry Glen Ross. William H Macy (Fargo) plays the stressed executive who visits a fortune teller to be told: "You are not where you belong." He takes this as a cue to sink his fingers into the flesh of the city's underbelly looking for cheap thrills. The idea is that by confronting all his fears about the feral masses he's liberating himself from the yoke of middle-class respectability.

While an intriguing if familiar notion, it is taken to ridiculous extremes. Par for the course with grim farce, but what's supposed to be a daring exercise in exploring prejudice comes across as forced and phoney.

Macy lends the film gravitas as long as he is able, but by the end he too is struggling. I did laugh, however, at Edmond's explanation for the mayhem: "I think I just had too much coffee."

Maybe Mamet should consider switching to decaff, too.

Cineworld, Renfrew Street, Glasgow