With an underlying slyness to his boyish good looks, Edward Norton has built a career on playing seemingly nice guys with darkness in their souls.

He was a manipulative murder suspect in his debut Primal Fear, a schizophrenic suit in Fight Club, a double-crossing thief in The Score and a goody-two-shoes TV entertainer in Death To Smoochy.

So as Down In The Valley's producer, he makes the sensible choice of casting himself as Harlan Fairfax Carruthers, the laid-back drifter who wanders into San Fernando Valley looking for somewhere to hang his hat.

The place is a ten-lane freeway with a soulless community running through it; a crushingly dull neighbourhood to grow up in for high-schooler Tobe (Wood) and her shy, impressionable younger brother Lonnie (Culkin).

Tobe's boredom is relieved when her friends stop to fill up the car on their way to the beach. They can't believe that the cowboy dude pumping gas is for real, but Harlan's up for it when Tobe - short for 'October' - invites him along. What the heck, it's only a job.

They make out and then they make a date. Arriving at Tobe's house, Harlan goes over well with Lonnie but his politeness doesn't quite ring true with her dad Wade (Morse). Tobe doesn't care.

Wade's misgivings grow when Harlan and Tobe have a run-in with a grouchy stable owner (Dern) who claims they stole his horse for a riding trip up in the hills. After a row with Wade, Tobe decides to let things cool off.

Then we see Harlan's other side. In his motel room, he plays out solo westerns with corny dialogue, fancy pistol-work, the whole caboodle. He also takes Lonnie for a spur-of-the-moment shooting lesson - after admiring Wade's gun collection.

Think you can see where this is going? Think again. Writer/director Jacobson steadily leads the audience through familiar territory until - bang! - the drama goes in a totally different, almost surreal direction.

It's at this point that Jacobson scores... then misses. Having jolted everyone out of their reverie, he squanders a great opportunity to pick up speed and end his movie at a canter.

The final act trots to an unsatisfactory conclusion, which is a shame as it undermines the impressive character-building efforts of Norton and the rest of the cast.

Elliott Noble