Summer of Sam

At least four potentially fascinating feature films lurk within this messy, incoherent Spike Lee joint, none of which has much of anything to do with either a) the movie's alleged structural conceit, or b) any of the others. The period, despite a wealth of invigorating production-design detail, is exploited rather than explored; consequently, while the film is never quite boring (something of an achievement in itself, since it's hideously overlong at two hours and significant change), it never quite seems to be about anything, either--or, more accurately, it's about so many things at once that no real focus ever manages to emerge. John Leguizamo struts up a very appealing storm in the film's most trite (but also most effective) story, about a lothario who wants a whore in the bedroom but won't countenance any "deviant" behavior from his long-suffering wife; other performances range from the occasionally inspired (Adrien Brody's affected British accent is a hoot) to the insufferably bland (here as elsewhere, Mira Sorvino all but vanishes from the screen when she isn't being overtly comic) to the utterly baffling (and Anthony La Paglia is in this movie because...?) Optional. (M. D'Angelo)