STARRING: Michael Douglas, Toby Maguire, Katie Holmes, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr.

LINE ON THE POSTER: Undependable. Unpredictable. Unforgettable

WHAT HAPPENS: This has one of those great plots where things get weirder and weirder until you can't believe what is going on, but it come together beautifully. Grady Tripp (Douglas) is a professor/writer living in Pittsburgh and teaching at the University. It's been a while since his last best-selling book and the new one is still far off completition. However his life is far from boring, his wife's left him, he's got the University Chancellor (McDormand) pregnant, befriended one of his students, James Leer (Maguire) who's shot the chancellor's husband's dog and stole his rare coat that Marilyn Monroe wore on her wedding. To top all this his editor is in town to get the far from finished novel and another student, the beautiful Hannah Green (Holmes) who's he's living with, has a crush on him. This is the only start of it.

ANY GOOD:Yes, it's fantastic and one of the best films released this year and sadly will  be overlooked. After all the hoo-hah about Michael Douglas' marraige to Catherine Zeta-Jones, his tremendous ability to act has been tragically ignored. He's great as the aging professor who's losing his way but is taking others unnder his wing for guidance. Along with Douglas' 'Oscar-Worthy' performance (watch this space) the rest of the cast are great particularly up and coming hot-tip Maguire (soon to be in Spiderman) as the mysterious student and McDormand as the love interest. A must see if it's showing in a cinema near you.

INTERESTING FACT: This film has been released twice in the USA and it flopped the first time around and blame was put on a rather poor poster.

LIKED IT, TRY: American Beauty, The Big Lebowski or Good Will Hunting