The Life of David Gale

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney

Directed by: Alan Parker

Running Time: 130 minutes

Rated R

2 Gus heads

"The Life of David Gale" is a film that truly holds a smoking gun.

With a credible director, a richly talented cast and a big hot-button topic, it could shoot wherever it wants to. It could tear into the fabric of the death penalty in America, rip out a beating heart and show us all what it's really about.

This is the kind of movie that wins every award in the house. Unfortunately, "The Life of David Gale" is content enough to take that gun and shoot itself in the head.

It is cinematic self-destruction at its finest, and nobody involved escapes with a clean slate. We should admire the political aspirations of "The Life of David Gale," which attempts to put a face on the moral grounds that define the death penalty. Hollywood could use some topical fare these days.

But the endless preaching, the ironic plot twists and a heavy-handed approach are suffocating in the end; this film feels like fringe propaganda from a group of filmmakers too paranoid for their own good. While they, namely director Alan Parker, may succeed in crafting a decent melodrama that can hook the average couch potato, their overt politics are stuffy, sometimes insulting, and end up not even leaving a dent.

The film, which is fictional despite its occasional charade as fact, focuses on David Gale (Kevin Spacey), a divorced Texas college professor and staunch opponent of the death penalty. Gale seems to have a normal life until one of his partners in the death penalty fight, Constance Harraway (Laura Linney), is raped and murdered and Gale, ironically, finds himself on death row for the crime.

Flash forward to just days before Gale's execution: A young and ambitious reporter, Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), is summoned by Gale himself to hear his entire story and help uncover the truth. Of course, he never just tells her what's going on - he gives her tips and teases to go on, giving the film its own whodunit aspect, and mysterious characters seem to be chasing Bitsy and her intern as they hunt for the truth.

At times, when the film isn't shoving rhetoric down the audience's throats, it can be a satisfying drama in the same way that a TV movie can at least be engaging. Spacey, as usual, shows a broad range in his acting, and Linney brings a certain dimension to everything she does. Winslet, while respectably keeping up, is unfortunately the one who is made to suffer; seldom have so many over-the-top crying scenes made the cut of one film.

But, as you wade further into "The Life of David Gale," this is the kind of thing you come to expect. It's a movie too aware of its own presence, and it tries to pummel us with meaning while giving us no real reason to care.

It could have been a clean shot.

However, in the end, it just ends up being an elaborate cinematic misfire.