Where the Truth Lies (2005): C+

Atom Egoyan attempts to expose the seedy underbelly of glamorous 1950s showbiz with Where the Truth Lies, somehow not realizing that few still retain any illusions about their matinee idols’ moral spotlessness. Pill-popping Vince Collins (Colin Firth) and sex fiend Lanny Morris (Kevin Bacon) are a Martin and Lewis-style tag-team who, twenty-odd years after their union’s sudden dissolution, are forced to relive an ugly episode involving a murdered hotel employee (Rachel Blanchard) by an intrepid reporter named Karen (Alison Lohman) who’s writing a tell-all about their careers in part because of her lifelong infatuation with the duo. Egoyan’s loose, snazzy direction helps generate an appropriate atmosphere of profligate sleaziness, and Bacon and Firth radiate a believable blend of public megawatt charm and behind-closed-doors sordidness. Yet because of Lohman’s false, tone-deaf performance – in which a descent into disreputable lesbianism is only one roofie away – and a clunky, flashback-heavy narrative in which the shockingly pedestrian truth is buried in the flimsiest of mysteries, the film turns out to be more superficial Rat Pack-ish razzle dazzle than gritty Raymond Chandler-esque whodunit.