Light Sleeper

Stars: Willem Dafoe (Body of Evidence, Mississippi Burning, Platoon), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, The Player, Bull Durham), Dana Delaney (Housesitter, TV's "China Beach"). Hailed by the critical community, as was writer/director Paul Schrader's last snorefest The Comfort of Strangers, this intermittently interesting character study of a 40-ish coke dealer who's beginning to realize he wants more out of life, stars Willem Dafoe as John LeTour. Working in the Big Apple for Ann (Susan Sarandon), LeTour is a delivery boy for the upscale snorters who pay big prices so they don't have to deal with street riffraff. When a college girl is found dead from a drug overdose, the police shakedown LeTour and something vaguely resembling a plot begins to formulate. Suspecting that he might be set up, LeTour's attention is diverted when he runs across his former lover Marianne (Dana Delaney), who sleeps with him and then walks away (for no apparent reason). Eventually, out of this murky tangle, LeTour comes up with a plan to confront the people he thinks are framing him, and the film lumbers on toward it's explosive, violent ending ( a characteristic trademark of Schrader screenplays like Taxi Driver and Hardcore). Even the fact that Dafoe and Sarandon are two of the most likable and gifted thespians working today can't offset the absolutely focusless meandering of the story. Some nice scenes, but mostly a disappointment. Audience: Arty types and film buffs are going to want to see, and the trailers on other LIVE product will stir interest. But most audiences will find this boring and pointless.