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Steve Buscemi directs this two-person talkie in which bitter former war correspondent Pierre Peters (Buscemi) is assigned to a fluff interview piece with flighty self-absorbed starlet Katya (Sienna Miller). (Interview was written by Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004.) The two spar briefly at a restaurant, then banter the night away at Katya’s Manhattan loft. As neither character is intentionally likeable, the film, which does pack little emotional bombs, never rises above a self-conscious, self-reflective exercise. In one corner we have Buscemi and Miller riffing on the characters they’re most often playing; in another, the endless collusion of media and entertainment. The narrative gambit — each character has more in common than they realize, and each has a shocking secret to be shared — feels contrived, and if you don’t guess the outcome 30 minutes in, you’re not paying attention. Starts Fri., Aug. 24. Squirrel Hill 
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2007.
