"Southland Tales" is no "Donnie Darko."

This film is written and directed by Richard Kelly in his first project since "Donnie Darko." The film takes place in a Los Angeles in 2008, and is an ensemble drama/comedy/sci-fi flick with The Rock, Justin Timberlake, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sean William Scott, Miranda Richardson, Mandy Moore, Kevin Smith and many members of Saturday Night Live.

In "Southland Tales", Abilene, Texas, is hit by a nuclear attack in 2004. The United States now uses an energy source powered by ocean waves, and citizens are monitored by a Big Brother-type department called USIDENT.

The Rock plays Boxer Santaros, whose father, a Texas senator, is running for vice president. Santaros has amnesia and finds himself writing a movie script about the end of the world. Meanwhile, a presidential election is about to occur and the last vestiges of the Democratic Party, who now are considered marxists, attempt to sabotage it.

Even though this plot might sound coherent, it's really not. There are a lot of other plot lines and conspiracies that are underdeveloped, and I'm really not doing the plot justice, because it's so convoluted.

Someone from Variety told me that the film probably will destroy Kelly's career, because almost all the reviews have been dreadful. When people asked me about the film before the premiere, I told them to expect an incoherent narrative similar to David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive."

At times, it feels as if the plot was written by a 16-year-old who just thought it would be cool to cobble a bunch of cool actors and actresses together in a sci-fi flick. The dialogue is bad, and the acting in many cases is stiff. However, the soundtrack, mostly by Moby, is really great, and I like the sets, costumes and some of the special effects.

A funny thing about red-carpet premieres. Because the films are screened beforehand for the press, if a film is a good, extra tickets are hard to come by. If a film is bad, lots of extra tickets suddenly become available.

That was the case with "Southland Tales." Many people were able to get extra tickets because of the bad buzz generated earlier in the day.

2 stars
***
Wayne's star system
1 star --> avoid at all costs
2 stars --> watch on TV when nothing else is on
3 stars --> rent it eventually
4 stars --> must see before you die