ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (2006) *** Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, Matt Keeslar, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Anjelica Huston, Steve Buscemi, Joel Moore, Ethan Suplee, Nick Swardson, Adam Scott.

Another scathingly funny comedy collaboration of Zwigoff & Clowes.

Although I have never read any of Daniel Clowes' comic books/graphic novels I know I've definitely lived them. His scathingly, biting satire and caustically witty characters are indelibly familiar with my train of thought in humor and I have known some of those gross caricatures to be actual flesh & blood people. Archetypes of angst & anomie, pseudo intellectuals and face it, assholes. There I said it but then again so does Clowes and filmmaker/collaborator/partner-in- crime Terry Zwigoff who are back together since their last great teamwork effort "Ghost World".

Adapting his story Clowes perfectly captures the ennui of being a talented artist trying to find himself and be taken seriously in a sea of misfits, miscreants and malcontents. The talented artist here is one Jerome Platz (Minghella, son of filmmaker Anthony Minghella, and disturbingly looking like the teenage version of the comic strip character "Dondi" (!)),a lonely, lowly freshman embarking to find his true talent as an artist by enrolling at a prestigious New York art college called Strathmore where he rooms on campus with vulgarian film student Vince (Suplee) and mincing ambivalently gay fashion designer wannabe Matthew (Swardson) and pines for his drawing class' nude model Audrey Baumgartner (Myles, a combo of Cameron Diaz and Uma Thurman; yes, definitely easy on the eyes kids!),who he idealizes and imagines her to be his destined love and inspired muse. Oh and there's a serial strangler on the loose.

Director Zwigoff lets the jokes go broad and the wit stream like unleashed venom with its nasty student body and officious artistes-in-the-making (they're all there as they are pointed out hilariously by eternal drop-out slacker Bardo whose medium is sarcasm) are only too real to be caricatured with the pomposity of greatness and those who deign it so including Professor Sandiford (Malkovich at his most passive-aggressive) and local art goon restaurateur Broadway Bob (an unbilled Buscemi) as well as Broadbent as a slovenly, drunk alum who once had the potential to be the 'next big thing' is a riot. Perhaps the must cutting to the bone and too painful to be honest depiction of art as success is a symposium with Strathmore's prized alum and sensation to the art world Marvin Sagemiller (Scott) who basks in his misanthropy and embracing his assholedness.

Zwigoff and Clowes make a perfect combination even if the subplot is superfluous and unnecessary providing an unbalanced final act that suggest what would've been the coda to Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver". However its previous moments outweigh the outcome by simply stating that art is what it is and that's all that there is.

Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes, director and writer of Art School Confidential (second meeting after Ghost World),have here a perplexing convergence of sensibilities. It's a film that I really wanted to like more than I ended up doing so. It has a premise that is not bad at all. A suburban kid constantly picked on as a kid (and virgin) goes to an odd-ball (and usual kind of) art school, where he meets people who are, admittedly by the film itself, walking clichés.

And for the first half hour, give or take, I thought the satire (and, more importantly in this case, laughs) that Zwigoff and Clowes were aiming for went off splendidly. There are some funny vignettes showing the young Jerome (Max Minghella, whom I'll get to next paragraph) trying to adjust to this new world, where he has troubles finding the right girl, and in general to his fellow drawing classmates as they mouth off as the pretentious being brilliance. BUT, then the storyline takes a bit of a detour, and it along with the characters never fully recover.

The problem I see reminded me of why another film that targeted a specific group in-wind of an institution-kind of setting, so to speak, like Election, worked well and this didn't. Not to compare too much as they're different films, while Election could work in balancing out some of the more dramatic aspects with the satire, Art School Confidential just couldn't. As the filmmakers get more into the love story portion of the film, then into the serial killer storyline (involving characters with secrets soon revealed),one realizes that a) what little satire is left is overwhelmed by the dourness that accompanies the darker side of Jerome's descent into art-school hell, and b) its star Minghella just can't pull it off totally.

As an actor he often has a look on his face and in his eyes that's very much the same scene to scene, close to being on the verge of weeping outright (yes, even more than Jake Gyllenhall in his earlier years). Overall his work isn't awful, but there's more needed for this rather simplistic character - when it comes down to it (and, admittedly, clichéd but not an interesting kind)- and is outranked by other superior actors like Malkovich and Broadbent.

Maybe some might find more wit in the film's later half than I did, but even the ending that tries to put one more satirical point in the works, seems like its been in other films before. And there are a couple of points logistically in the story that just don't work (i.e. certain particulars that one once SOBER could see put on the paintings). Despite a few bright spots early on, and some cutting wit and clever jabs at the ponderousness of how art school's work (with some of the best material from Ethan Suplee's sub-plot as a struggling filmmaker),it's a disappointment coming from this writer/director duo. For all the possibilities that could be open with such material, only a few are realized.

Jerome (Max Minghella) is a geeky self-important Art nerd. He's always drawing and always being bullied. His great hope is Strathmore College where he could start a new life. Only Strathmore is a rundown crumbling institution with disinterested teachers. He's enamored with beautiful nude model Audrey (Sophia Myles). Oh and there is a serial killer.

I love the skewering of the art world and art education. It has a dark edge. Max Minghella is not the most compelling actor but he masters the feel of a pompous art nerd. John Malkovich is great as a professor. Sophia Myles is beautiful. I could see her as an object of desire. The only problem is that I don't think Jim Broadbent is the right actor for the role. Overall, this is a good black comedy.