Box of Moonlight

Briefly making the obligatory film circuit rounds and playing short engagements in major cities before heading directly to video, indie filmmaker Tom DiCillo's (Johnny Suede, Living in Oblivion) latest is fitfully engaging during its first half. John Turturro--who can play Everyman about as well as it can be played--stars as Al Fountain, a middle-aged, anal-retentive construction supervisor who not only isn't welcome to hang with the "guys," he's also frequently the butt of their jokes. When Fountain is working on a distant job, and the project is suddenly canceled, he gets his motor running, so to speak, heads out on the highway and goes looking for adventure. But what comes his way is an unlikely Puck (Sam Rockwell), a coonskin-cap crowned free nature sprite who likes to skinny-dip and steal lawn ornaments and just generally be quirky for the sake of being quirky. While Turturro plays befuddled straight man to Rockwell's bet-you-can't-guess-what-I'm-gonna-do-next lawless buffoon, the viewer tries for a while to go with the supposed-to-be-hip flow. But when it becomes evident that the set-up was really just a teaser for a series of hit and miss sketches, you're forced to accept the handful of unrelated comic scraps DeCillo throws your way...or not. My advice would be to wait until he has a real movie, not just a good initial idea tacked on to SNL-type skits. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)