Red Meat

Color, NR (mature themes, language, nudity, sexual situations), 95 min., VHS $59.95, DVD $29.95

Street: Oct. 29, Prebook: Sept. 20

First Run: L, 2002, NA

Cast: Lara Flynn Boyle (Happiness), James Frain (The Count of Monte Cristo), Jennifer Grey (Ritual), Dee Freeman (The Landlady)

Director: Allison Bennett

Story Line: At a ritualistic, monthly get-together of male friends who work out, eat red-meat dinners then discuss their dalliances with members of the opposite sex, Victor (Frain) effortlessly dominates the conversation by describing his touching encounter with a terminally ill woman (Boyle).

Bottom Line: Seeing Bennett's name attached to this sharply critical examination of the male psyche would seem to explain the filmmaker's harshness toward men, but this Allison happens to be a man--the same guy who wrote last year's Autumn in New York. Red Meat, which has been on the shelf for nearly five years, was his tyro effort as writer/director. It brims with overly theatrical dialog and two-dimensional characterizations, and Bennett seems more interested in impressing us with his profundity than in telling a convincing and engaging tale. Thematically, the movie is reminiscent of Neil Labute's In the Company of Men, and those who enjoyed that vastly superior film represent the target audience for this one. Having recognizable players like Boyle (who, while top-billed, has less than 20 minutes of screen time), Grey and Frain is a definite asset. ROI prospects are just so--so, but on balance, the film is probably worth carrying. --Ed Hulse

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