Simpatico is set just before Halloween and opens with a man taping up a shoebox with curious vigor. We learn that he is Vinnie (Nick Nolte, Affliction), a crumpled mess of a drunk that has just been pinched for allegedly harassing a woman. Vinnie makes a collect call to his wealthy friend Carter (Jeff Bridges, Arlington Road), grunting "They're gonna make me talk!" into the phone. We have no idea what this means, but Carter quickly hops a plane from his beautiful home in Kentucky to head for Vinnie's place in Cucamunga, California. Carter's juice-head wife Rosie (Sharon Stone, The Muse) stays behind, in a perpetual fog.

Carter's interest in protecting Vinnie is related directly to the mysterious contents of the shoebox. We learn that there is something bad inside - most likely photos and letters - pertaining to the fixing of a horse race from several years ago that left the three players somewhat well off. The history of Vinnie and Carter's relationship is played out in a series of cool flashbacks that just reek of Lone Star, with their younger roles played by Shawn Hatosy (Outside Providence), Liam Waite and Kimberly Williams (relativity). Paranoid that their secret could potentially affect the $30 million sale of his Triple Crown-winning horse Simpatico, Carter is tricked by a dodgy Vinnie, who steals his pal's car, clothes and wallet and flies back to Kentucky, leaving Carter to become a grubby, disheveled Oscar Madison to Vinnie's Felix Unger.

I was expecting the shoebox to contain some really messed-up stuff and was very unsatisfied once the contents were revealed. The acting is solid, especially from Albert Finney (Washington Square), who plays a former horse-racing official with a dirty past. Stone is perfectly cast; her role most likely resembling her real life - drunk and hazy, sleeping all day and having sex to get ahead (or, in last year's case, to get a Golden Globe nomination). Nolte and Bridges are, as usual, reliable actors. Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich) contributes a supporting role as the object of Vinnie's affection.

The picture looks fantastic, thanks to John Toll's (Braveheart, The Thin Red Line) gloomy cinematography, and ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland provides a decent score. But Simpatico never really gets off the ground. It's tough to feel anything for the characters and, with the big surprise letdown, the ending is left terribly flat. Warchus does make effective use of the Alan Parsons Project song "Games People Play" at the beginning and end of the film, but it's hardly enough to save the picture.

1:46 - for violence, adult language and adult situations