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Now I love David Lynch as much as the next gal. Rather, more than the next gal, but, ummmm...INLAND EMPIRE??? Words escape me. And here I thought that nothing stranger than Eraserhead could come from this man's brilliant mind.


I hadn't noticed the caption "A Woman in Trouble" on the poster before now, but I guess that is pretty much what the film is about. "I guess..." being operative here. I can appreciate its ambition, and its pure, unfiltered Lynchian dreamscape. Would I go out and recommend it? Probably not to anyone who hasn't invested a lot of time into Lynch appreciation or at least taken more than a passing fancy with surrealism. I don't even think I could coherently tell anyone what it is about. Longtime Lynch muse Laura Dern plays a fading film star who gets a break at a romance co-starring Justin Theroux (hot) directed by Jeremy Irons (double hot.) She gets lost in her character and spirals into a nightmarish rabbit hole. Period. That's about all I can venture to describe the "plot." And there are Polish maffiosos/gypsies. And anthropomorphic rabbits speaking to a canned laugh track. And a posse of prostitutes who break into song and dance to Locomotion. And did I mention Justin Theroux/Jeremy Irons? Unfortunately their characters are pretty much dismissed about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way through once Laura Dern's descent into madness (???? I'm really not sure....) takes over to carry the rest of the film.


Bottom line is, if you've got 3 hours on your hands and want to be completely confounded, check it out. But I'm not going so far as to recommend it. Well, maybe I am. I'm still not certain!