ASK THE DUST

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Writer/director Robert Towne ("Personal Best") mucks up John Fante’s 1939 classic Depression-era novel about Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell) a naive writer making his way through real and imagined traps of sunny Los Angeles.

Nonstop voice-over narration clogs up Towne’s misguided rewrite that reverses the novel’s narrative significance by making Camilla (Selma Hayek) amenable to Bandini’s unromantic overtures.

Colin Farrell is too self-consciously cute for the part, and Selma Hayek overstresses her character’s problematic passion.

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel gives the film a saturated look that perfectly represents Los Angeles in the ‘30s.

Donald Sutherland is squandered in a trivial supporting role.

Rated R. 117 mins.