True crime meets urban legend in Brian DePalma's noirish take on the greed, obsession and love which surrounded the seedy death of a Hollywood starlet-on-the-make.

Part of the quartet of James Ellroy novels that included LA Confidential, this follows the sleazy course of events through the eyes of LA cop Bucky Bleichert (Hartnett).

He exists in a strangely platonic menage-a-trois with his partner Lee Blanchard (Eckhart), a fellow boxer, and Lee's vampish broad Kay (Johansson), a one-time hooker with a colourful history.

They're called on to investigate the (real life) murder in 1947 of Elizabeth "Betty" Short, a 22-year-old aspiring actress found murdered, her naked body sliced in two and mouth slit to form a grisly clownish grin.

Complicating the homicide probe is Lee's unexplained but rapid descent into a benzedrine-fuelled personal hell and his obsession with the release of Kay's violent former pimp from the slammer.

Bucky also finds himself compromised when he takes more than a professional interest in enigmatic witness Madeleine Linscott (Swank), daughter of a deranged millionaire construction boss.

Director Brian DePalma's no slouch when it comes to the efficient handling of multi-stranded crime sagas (cf The Untouchables, Dressed To Kill) but here his touch isn't so sure.

He's not helped by the casting of Josh Hartnett ina lead role that places considerable demands in order to convey crises of conscience while delivering the sort of sardonic bon mots at which Ellroy excels.

While ostensibly an out-and-out film noir, the narrative also dips into the occasional comedy setpiece - check out Bucky's barking dinner with John Kavanagh's nutty Scottish building magnate and his wife, a sottish snob played deliriously by Fiona Shaw.

These distractions, albeit amusing, make for an uneven narrative and render the denouement a chuckle-fest rather than the chilling revelation the often over-stylised proceedings have geared us up for.

Despite careful nurturing, this particular flower eventually goes to seed.

Tim Evans