Julian Po

A bad trip. Christian Slater, whose career path has recently taken a bumpy detour with news of drug abuse and punching and biting altercations, stars as Julian Po, a bookworm whose presence in a remote small town confounds the locals. Is he a drug dealer? A terrorist? A killer? To get them off his back, he blurts out that he intends to commit suicide. The overbearing musical score cues us that this is supposed to be a quirky fable, but Julian Po is really a credibility-straining, patience-testing succession of scenes in which Po prattles into a tape recorder, is gawked at in the streets, and is visited in his hotel room by eccentric characters. Not recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[DVD Review--April 5, 2005--New Line, 90 min., PG-13, $19.98--Making its debut on DVD, 1997's Julian Po is presented in a handsome widescreen transfer with DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and stereo surround options, but no extras besides trailers. Bottom line: an extra-less DVD release of a merit-less film.]