Tricia Helfer sparkles nicely in this "Bizarro World" comedy directed by Robert Cuffley. In some ways it hearkens back to the mid-1930s and to some of the great screwball comedies of that era, except with a much harder and daring edge to it. She's an old friend of the bungling ingénue from a hick town ( Lee Lee Sobieski ),who has made a niche for herself in the big bad city by becoming a pro dominatrix.

For those who don't know, being a dominatrix is a lifestyle choice with psychological and sexual overtones, but rarely involving actual sex. It is about psycho-sexual mind games and role-playing, with its own rules and subculture. In all of that, Helfer's characterization and charm seems to be admirably suited for the choice of Celine.

Sobieski takes a brilliant turn as the goofy young friend who simply cannot keep out of her own way. There is in all of this comedic action a dark undercurrent of criminal behavior, as Sobieski's character -- ironically named Alberta -- blunders her way into and out of real trouble where there's real violence done to the real people in her life. She's like a lightning rod in that regard.

The genius of the film lies in how the director and these two superb actresses move the story forward, almost effortlessly, as every time Alberta stumbles into a predicament whatever she does next fails to resolve the problem. It only brings a worse and yet even funnier predicament.

The DVD presentation is terrific and there's just enough of Sobieski's beautiful body shown ( for the right reasons ),to warrant this film having a most sensible R rating. There's just too much sexual role playing in the plot for young teens, and it is not something in the way of entertainment for pre-teen youngsters, at all, period.

Aside from that caveat, this is one goofy, wacky, well-done comedy.

The criminal behavior involved in the plot is diluted somewhat by the hapless nature of the three criminal characters. They are bad hombres for sure but just so darned incompetent that they don't really frighten anyone, all that much ... adults, that is.

They are not misunderstood, it should be noted, these characters -- but they are comically incoherent and impulsive.

So this film ought to and does get seven stars out of ten, with two additional boxes of popcorn tossed in for good measure.

This was a rather funny movie that had wonderful bits of insanity throughout. I felt that Leelee Sobieski did a fine job of being the screwy person way out of her league. Everything she touched turned to fertilizer. I had seen Tricia Helfer in a few television shows where she was effective, but here she steps up nicely to steal the show. She is trying to be in control of everything but Leelee Sobieski is too much for any controlled, organized person to handle. The remaining cast of violent and crazy people fills out the story in a humorous and rather frightening way. To me, there was a nice amount of tension being built as the story comes to its conclusion. Not a classic,but a nice rental to fill out an evening's viewing.

I had the privilege to attend the cast+crew screening of this -- no, I'm neither; just the luck of blundering into the right cineplex. I've just now rented and watched it again: it's definitely as good and sharp as I remembered it. With that in mind ...

I agree with the previous reviewer (gylgamesh): well acted, cleverly written, and charming. Every character has something surprising to reveal; and the humour is at once subtle and laugh-out-loud funny. The food court scene alone was priceless.

Other postings here about Leelee Sobieski's acting puzzle me: in an early scene, Leelee Sobieski gives a tremendous nonverbal expression of everything fighting inside her. Throughout the film, she shows you someone you know you've met before, who's not that bright, but thinks they're smarter than they are... and perhaps they're not all wrong about that, either.

Tricia Helfer is full of surprises here; if you've seen her in "Battlestar Galactica", you can probably imagine how she might carry off the role of dominatrix, but there's more to her role than that. The most surprising thing I found was seeing what shoulder muscles she has. No spoiler, but from the screening after-show stand-up, one of the other actors (Michael Eklund) said that he now wished he hadn't encouraged her to hit him hard enough to be realistic.

The supporting roles are neatly done, as well; Michael Adamthwaite in particular.

The video jacket and promotion might make you think this is a film for guys. Girls: enjoy, this one's at very least as much for you. I'd give it a 9 out of 10, except that I promised I'd save my 9 for that special one :-)