As good as his accent is, it is difficult to buy Christian Bale as a 'boy from the hood'. Especially one who happens to be a bit of nutter following his killing spree for the army in Iraq. However, this does make for some entertaining scenes.

The problem is that these Harsh Times should have been limited to one day or a weekend at most. But spread over a few days, the narrative and tone of the film is disjointed and unfocused.

It opens with Jim David (Bale) having flashbacks of Iraq and waking up in Mexico with his peasant-girl fiancée Marta (Tammy Trull). How they met and where Jim learned to speak fluent Spanish are never explained.

Back in LA, he's all set to join the police department so he can bring Marta over, marry her and settle down.

But after being rejected by the LAPD, he finds himself in the same boat as his best friend Mike Alvarez (Freddy Rodriguez of TV's Six Feet Under) - jobless and without prospects.

Jim is supposed to drive Mike around the city to look for a job so that he can stay together with his lady Sylvia (Longoria). But all they do is drink, get high and get into scrapes.

Jim is eventually recruited by the Department of Homeland Security - which gives rise to some of the best lines in the film - and Mike sorts himself out with gainful employment. This warrants one last hurrah down in Mexico for the boys.

When Jim finally flips, one is past caring. Harsh Times calls for harsh words: it's pointless, stylised without substance and places the wrong character at the centre of proceedings.

The film should about Mike trying to go straight whilst being pulled off the rails by his crazy mate. As it is, Jim's flashbacks and Mexican melodrama are part of different film entirely.

Raaj Rana