Splendor

Given that the indie filmmaker Greg Araki, aptly dubbed his last three films (Totally F***ked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere) the "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy," it would be fair to assume that everything from the title to the sunny if somewhat unusual premise of his new Splendor is a tongue-in-cheek façade designed to disguise some deep, dark, nihilistic twist of plot. But the surprise here is no surprises: Splendor is a straight romantic comedy that plays out just the way these things are supposed to.

Small-town girl named Veronica comes to the big city (LA) with high hopes, finds true love where she least expects it, and, after enduring some hardship, lives happily ever after. It's Araki's version of a John Hughes film like Pretty in Pink, only this time the girl (Kathleen Robertson, or "Clare Arnold" from Beverly Hills 90210) falls for two guys -- a smart, sensitive writer type named Abel (Johnathon Schaech) and a rugged rock drummer named Zed (Matt Keeslar). Rather than battling it out for her affections, the three move in together in a not-at-all-platonic Three's Company-style scenario, which leads to Veronica's getting pregnant. That nobody bothers to determine the paternity of the child is indicative of how much suspension of disbelief Splendor demands. That Araki, who wrote and directed the film, seems to think that there's something heartwarming, amusing, or even remotely compelling enough about this threesome to command an audience's attention for more than 15 or 20 minutes is a sign that he's probably better off sticking to the dark stuff.

-- Matt Ashare