Slipstream

Sir Anthony Hopkins writes, directs and stars in this bizarre vanity project, playing an aging screenwriter whose fictions get all mixed up with reality as he's rewriting a murder mystery. Hopkins apparently called in a lot of favors: Michael Clarke Duncan, Fionnula Flanagan, Camryn Manheim, S. Epatha Merkerson, Christian Slater, Jeffrey Tambor, John Turturro and Kevin McCarthy (as himself) all show up in what appears to be a big-budget home movie. The story jumps around with little apparent focus, and Hopkins edits the whole thing into shards that are supposed to make up a conceptual mosaic. It just looks like Oliver Stone gripped with ADD as he stretches out an episode of "The Twilight Zone" to feature length. The DVD features commentary by Hopkins, deleted scenes and the making-of featurette "Dreaming Slipstream."