"You need to get laid," is philosophical barfly Joe Mantegna's advice to Edmond (Macy), a middle-aged businessman wracked with gnawing self doubt.

Ed's already walked out on his wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) when a petty argument over a broken lamp escalated into a full-blown admission that he didn't love her.

Mantegna's dime-store counsel strikes a chord...and a subsequent observation that "ni****s have it easy" ignites the rabid aggressor in Ed's meek everyman.

Heading to the city's low-life clip joints and peep-shows, his bitter realisation that hookers will charge and street-corner conmen are wont to rob fuels his pent-up rage.

A simmering pressure cooker of prejudice eventually bursts at the seams in an orgy of violence that leaves a hustler at death's door.

Edmond, fuelled by his newly-discovered bloodlust, heads off into the night - the worm turning to frenzied predator - in search of those he perceives as doing him wrong.

Director Stuart Gordon's adaptation of David Mamet's black comedy fails to shake off its stagey manacles with dialogue that belongs specifically to the theatre.

Touching heavily on one of Mamet's regular themes - male emotional emasculation - it's an arid piece salvaged by Macy and an A-list cast which also includes Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari and Denise Richards.

In a politically correct world it's good to see a film that acknowledges racism, homophobia and misogyny are lurking just beneath the surface of our citys' urbane elite.

However, the revelation is conveyed in words that sound like they need to be read or quoted rather than delivered in movie dialogue.

Tim Evans