How overwrought is this straight-to-DVD melodrama about lonely people drifting through L.A.? Let’s see: There’s a suicidal former priest (Whitaker) who begs a transvestite prostitute to shoot him in exchange for 50 grand; a sad-sack mortician (Eddie Redmayne); and a cancer-ridden ex-con (Liotta) who meets his long-lost daughter (Biel). Naturally, she’s a stripper. She’s also a single mom with a coke habit, a son in a coma, and a gift for drizzling hot candle wax on her bare chest while on stage. If director Timothy Linh Bui weren’t so ham-fistedly intent on trying to be deep, the movie might have been laughably awful. Alas, it’s just awful. And we haven’t even mentioned the storm of blue snow...in Los Angeles. EXTRAS include a making-of doc that is as pointless as the movie. D
CITY OF ANGELS: Jessica Biel plays a stripper in Powder Blue
EW's GRADE
DDetails Release Date: May 26, 2009; DVD Release Date: May 26, 2009; Movie Rated: R; Genre: Drama; With: Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta and Forest Whitaker
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