Storytelling

Todd Solondz's esoteric, emotionally disquieting journey through the psychological undertow of American life features two shrewd but pointless short stories that give you the distinct feeling that the film got re-worked something fierce in post-production. The brief and unresolved "Fiction" stars Selma Blair (Legally Blonde) as an emotionally insecure coed desperately seeking acceptance from judgmental creative writing classmates, a cerebral palsy-stricken lover, and a professor who has his way with her so violently and graphically that a red box is conspicuously superimposed over their sex scene to avoid an NC-17. "Non-Fiction" is an anecdotal, ironic suburban misery comedy starring Paul Giamatti as a lonely, socially inept, Solondz-surrogate nerd making a documentary about a disaffected teen (Mark Webber) and his dysfunctional family. Although overflowing with raw, ego-battered emotion, social perception and acrid dark humor, Storytelling feels truncated (and, in fact, a third segment was filmed, but didn't make the cut for unknown reasons). Optional. [Note: DVD extras are essentially nil, apart from a trailer. Bottom line: an essentially extra-less disc for an unessential film.] (R. Blackwelder)