Sometimes the movie stylistically overdoes it, most glaringly in its use of semi-subliminal flashes of random images. That can be a fun device - it worked in Fight Club - but here it happens with maddening frequency; in some scenes, the random images pop up at a rate of two or three times every minute. Aside from being just plain annoying, there's no rhyme or reason to it: occasionally the images are of characters who haven't yet appeared in the film, and occasionally they're of historical figures like Hitler, which seems wildly out of place for a movie like this.

On the other hand, the ensemble cast is spectacular and varied; aside from those previously mentioned, we're given Michael Clarke Duncan as either a corpse, a bouncer, or an actor; Camryn Manheim as the film-within-the-film-within-the-dream's continuity supervisor (she's given the funniest line in the movie); John Turturro as an insane studio exec named Harvey; and best of all, actor Kevin McCarthy, playing himself.

The 93-year-old McCarthy starred in the original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which is referenced multiple times here; Bonhoeffer comes across him in a diner and then gives him a ride, only to have him disappear. It's barely more than a cameo, but the remarkably sharp McCarthy is haunting in the role, giving the film its strongest dream-like aura.

Not all of Slipstream works - even in a movie like this, some bits feel extraneous, notably Turturro's movie exec and a blonde woman (Lisa Pepper) who's in a lot of the film but doesn't seem to do anything. But sometimes, like with McCarthy and some recurring appearances by a man who might be Death himself, the film hits its mark beautifully. If you're at all into these types of films, Slipstream is worth checking out. But many of you will hate it.

Movie Grade: B+

Synopsis:

Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins writes, directs, and stars in this surreal tale of one man's journey into a vortex where reality and dreams collide. Aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer (Hopkins) has lived his life in two states of existence—the world of reality and the world inside his head. Hired to rewrite a murder mystery set in a desert diner and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion, Felix is politely baffled when the characters from his movie start showing up in his life and vice versa. Felix tries to maintain his equanimity as reality and fantasy collide in an increasingly whirling slipstream, while his memory banks fire off seemingly random references to songs and sci-fi movies from the 1950s.