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Imagine that ‘40s tough-guy detective Philip Marlowe tangled with a billionaire mad scientist, along with the usual quota of thugs, strippers and sarcastic cops. Now suppose that writer Erik Jendresen and director Tony Krantz decided – perhaps over a meal of magic mushrooms and moonshine – to hire a fancy-pants cinematographer, rewrite author Raymond Chandler, and offer up what they obviously hoped would make them film-noir Fellinis for the new century. That would be the apparent cultural intent of The Big Bang, a vividly photographed but otherwise inarticulate effort that offers in-jokes and stylistic novelties that might entertain trivia nuts seeking obscure references, but will otherwise addle anyone seeking coherence or consistency.

Let’s start with the obvious nods to author Chandler. The title reminds us of The Big Sleep, a Marlowe favorite. And the plot kicks off with a direct swipe from another Marlowe mystery, Farewell, My Lovely (also made under the title Murder, My Sweet). In each instance, a hulking goon barges in on our unsuspecting hero – played here by Antonio Banderas as a relatively prim gumshoe named Ned Cruz. The lovelorn lug needs to find his long-lost girlfriend, who promised to stay faithful while he was in prison.

Character studies. They might be the most misunderstood movies in the business. Those who do understand them love them when they're done right. When the perfect balance of performance and direction create dynamic moments through character and to a lesser extent the story, we get pretty excited. I watched Stone recently, and I got pretty excited. But that's not the experience a lot of folks had. Perhaps because the film had a limited release in just over 100 theaters nationwide, the idea that it was an art-house or festival film might have put the mainstream folks off a bit. I would have thought that a cast that featured both Robert De Niro and Edward Norton would have more than compensated for the perception. Still, the film has not been treated very kindly by moviegoers and many critics. Again, I think that's because there are still a lot of people out there, critics included, who still don't understand the nature of a character study.

Jack (De Niro) works at a prison. He's a probation officer who must evaluate potential parolees for the parole board. His job is to sit with them and hold conversations akin to counseling sessions to get a feel for where their head is at. He makes his recommendation, and it carries a lot of weight, so he literally has these men's future in his hands. His wife (Conroy) is deeply religious, and the couple read from the Bible each night. The film's opening vignette reveals that Jack was a violent and unstable man in his youth and has obviously settled down. But now he appears to go through life numb. He's about to retire, and he's searching rather desperately for some meaning in his life. His worldview is about to be shaken with his final case.