Right Again, Catalina - - Ask The Dust (2006) - - 29 May 2010

Not recommended. So what’s chemistry anyway? For actors, it’s two talented pros, working instinctually at the top of their game. Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep, not Colin Ferrall and Salma Hayek, who draft about an inch of water between them. And so goes Ask The Dust, a script passed from the legendary pen of Robert Towne past the eyes of Johnny Depp and Val Kilmer before its ultimate and fatal miscasting. Sadly, there’s bunches of anonymous Mexican actresses more talented than Hayek. Whatever . . . I’ve also got silly-plot issues with this movie, astonishing for a talent of Towne’s stature (Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Shampoo).  The story of a TB-struck waitress named Camille quickly engenders unintended giggles. Much is made elsewhere of Caleb Deschanel’s cinematography (The Natural) and Dennis Gassner’s art direction (The Road To Perdition). But like Salma, just more pretty - - but inert - - pictures.